Growing up in western Pennsylvania, Army Sgt. Joseph Minucci II spent hours in the woods playing “war” with friends.
Those games among the trees signaled a career calling for Minucci, who enlisted in the Army after graduating from high school in 1997 and was deployed with the 101st Airborne Division in the mountains of Afghanistan in March 2002.
A year later, Minucci parachuted into combat for the first time in northern Iraq with his new unit, the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
“He didn’t have to go,” said his mother, Marcella. “But he told me, `I’ve got to go. I have to be down range with the guys.’ “
On Nov. 13, Minucci, 23, of Richeyville, Pa., was killed when the bus he was in struck a roadside bomb in Samarra. He was helping secure a convoy for troops traveling between Balad and Kirkuk.
“He loved sports, played varsity soccer, played basketball all the time,” his mother said. “He was a very spirited person and he always liked to tease and joke around. But there was a serious side to him.”
His proudest possession was Ford Mustang GT sports car he purchased after returning from Afghanistan.
“He bought the car of his dreams,” she said. “The guys in his company said he talked so much about how he loved that car.”
But the passions of his life were a love of country and the military, his mother said.
“One of his friends spoke at the service and talked about how Joey loved the Army,” she said. “Joey told his friends, `I’m here so you guys don’t have to be. I’m doing what I feel I need to do for my families, my friends and my country.’ “
His mother recently received a letter from her son’s commanding officer, Lt. Col. Dominic Caraccito, who wrote of a May 17 incident when Minucci’s calm manner “saved many lives of our soldiers.”
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Caraccito wrote, “Joey believed deeply in what he was doing.”
Snake in mother’s care: Army Sgt. John Wayne Russell loved football, fast cars and snakes, including a python named Comet that he gave his mother for safekeeping before going to Iraq.
“He always liked snakes, but I don’t know where that came from,” said his mother, Betty. “I will keep a lot of his stuff but I won’t keep that snake.”
Russell, 26, of Portland, Texas, was among 17 soldiers killed when two Black Hawk helicopters crashed in Mosul on Nov. 15.
Betty Russell collected donations and sent 10 boxes of Christmas packages to her son’s unit with the 101st Airborne Division. She sent items her son would have wanted, including sweat pants, cakes, movies and boxes of bean dip and nachos so the troops “could have a little bit of Texas” in Iraq.
John Wayne Russell’s 27th birthday would have been Dec. 24.
Fanatical for 49ers: Army Spec. Joseph C. Norquist loved it when the St. Louis Rams lost.
“He was a diehard San Francisco 49ers fan and I was a diehard Rams fan so obviously it was a clash,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Sadler.
The men often argued about which team was better. During the football season, the two would religiously monitor the other’s team so they could tease and harass each other about losses, said Sadler.
“I’d have to make it known if the 49ers lost and he’d make it known if the Rams lost,” said Sadler.
Norquist, 26, of San Antonio was killed Oct. 9 in Baqubah, Iraq, when his convoy was hit by rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire. He was assigned to the 588th Engineer Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, at Ft. Hood in Texas.
Norquist was a quiet person who opened up around those he knew. He was an avid weightlifter and loved to watch wrestling on TV, said Sadler.
As a vehicle driver licensed for Humvees and armored personnel carriers, Norquist was also responsible for their maintenance and upkeep. It was a tough task, but he excelled at it, said Sadler.
“He was very trustworthy and very dependable. Every time I had him do something, I never had to go behind and check him. I trusted him,” said Sadler.
“The initiative that he took, you didn’t have to tell him to do anything. He seemed to be always one step ahead of you.”