Steele

Local man killed in Afghanistan

North Henderson's Capt. Joshua Steele, two others killed by IED Sunday

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

By JOHN R. PULLIAM

The Register-Mail

The Department of Defense confirmed late Tuesday afternoon that Capt. Joshua E. Steele died Sunday during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Steele is the son of R. Philip and Paula Steele, North Henderson. Attempts to reach them for comment were not successful.

Steele, 26, was assigned to the Army's 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division (Transition Team), Fort Riley, Kan. This was his second tour of duty in the Afghanistan-Iraq war. A military news item in the Dec. 19. 2003, edition of The Register-Mail reported Steele was being deployed to Iraq with the 5th Engineering Battalion from Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

According to Alison Kohler, assistant media relations officer at Fort Riley, Steele was deployed to Afghanistan in January.

"Transition teams are typically deployed for one year," Kohler said.

Capt. Justin Wilkerson, casualty assistance officer, said this morning, "The family is grieving right now and they loved him very much. He will be missed by his family and by his unit.

"He was an engineer and very bright and made captain very quickly," Wilkerson said. "He was thought of highly by his peers."

According to the D.O.D., Steele and two other U.S. soldiers died in Panjway, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle. The other two soldiers were Sgt. 1st Class Christopher D. Henderson, 35, Hillsboro, Ore., also from Fort Riley, and Sgt. 1st Class John M. Hennen, 26, Vinton, La., assigned to the Louisiana National Guard's 3rd Battalion, 156th Infantry Regiment, Lake Charles, La.

To date, 112 Fort Riley soldiers have died in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Joy Morland, a family friend who lives in Alpha, said Steele volunteered to go to Afghanistan.

Morland said Steele was someone who thought of others.

"He was a very conscientious son and a caring friend to everyone around him," Morland said.

Morland said many people in the Alpha area knew of Steele's death and wondered why there had been no newspaper, TV or radio reports. Morland said most people assumed it was because of military procedures.

The Steeles once lived in Alpha, where Philip Steele still has his law office. St. John's Catholic Church in Woodhull has established a prayer circle for Steele.

"Three out of the four children were in the military," Morland said of Steele's family.

Retired Alexis educator and football coach John Elder said Tuesday he received a call Sunday night informing him of Steele's death.

"He was a quality young man," said Elder, who attends St. Theresa Catholic Church, Alexis, as does the Steele family. "When I had any association with him at all, he was young, in grade school. They're a nice family. They're a quality family."

Elder said he had retired by the time Steele reached high school.

Joshua Steele attended Alexis High School and graduated from Missouri Military Academy in 1998. He received a bachelor of science degree in geological engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 2002. He entered the Army in December 2002.

While at Missouri-Rolla, Steele served as a gold bar recruiter at the university's Stonehenge Battalion.

He also was awarded a medal for attaining the highest academic average and scoring 270 or above on the Army Physical Fitness Test.

According to the D.O.D., as of Tuesday at 9 a.m., there had been 399 U.S. deaths in and around Afghanistan; 3,529 in Iraq.

Steele is the first member of the armed services from this area to lose his life in the Iraq-Afghanistan fighting since Sr. Airman Daniel Miller Jr. of the ROWVA area was killed Jan. 7 by a car bomb that exploded near Baghdad. In light of the Steele family's connections to the AlWood area, Steele's death is especially poignant because of the close association of the ROWVA and AlWood school districts, including the fact some members of the AlWood choir joined the ROWVA choir for a short memorial service outside Bethel Baptist Church in Galesburg the day Miller's body was brought home.

Information about arrangements for Steele were not immediately available.