Posted on: Thursday, January 27, 2005
Kid brother eulogizes fallen soldier
Associated Press
FORT LEWIS, Wash. — A soldier from Hawai'i who was killed in Iraq was remembered as a brother, husband and son yesterday during a memorial service.
John Froschauer • Associated Press "I'm very proud him, and in 27 years of his life, I knew him for 19 of them. And I wouldn't have it any other way."
Nainoa Hoe was shot to death Saturday as he led a foot patrol in Mosul, according to the Defense Department.
"The truth of the matter is, Nainoa is not resting right now," his brother said. "There's no doubt in my mind, that 1st Lt. Hoe is looking down on his men, protecting them, influencing their every decision, and just adding that little bit of luck that everybody needs in combat."
Nainoa Hoe graduated from Kamehameha Schools in 1995 and earned his bachelor's degree in management information systems and a master's in business administration from the University of Hawai'i. He and his wife, Emily, married last June in Hawai'i Kai.
He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis. He had been in Iraq since October.
Nakoa Hoe is scheduled to leave for Iraq within a month.
"He was a great guy," said Pfc. Nakoa Hoe, the brother of 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe. "He was a great brother, he was a great husband to my sister-in-law, and he was great son to my parents."
Allen Hoe, the father of Army 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe, salutes during a memorial service for his son at Fort Lewis, Wash. Hoe, a Hawai'i native, was killed Saturday by small-arms fire while on foot patrol in Mosul, Iraq.
The memorial service was held at the Main Post Chapel, where Hoe's father, Allen Hoe, saluted a photograph of his son and embraced servicemen who came to pay their respects.
Nainoa K. Hoe,
