Godspeed Staff Sgt. Nathan Cox~1-26th, 3rd BCT 1st ID~Korengal Valley
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September 22, 2008 Iowa soldier dies in Afghanistan An Army soldier from Iowa died in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan, his mother said Monday. Staff Sgt. Nathan Cox, 32, of Davenport, died on Saturday in the Korengal Valley, his mother, Jane Cox, of Walcott said.He was in a vehicle that hit a roadside bomb, she said. Jane Cox said did not have any other details about the incident and whether other soldiers were killed or injured. The Department of Defense had not released details of Cox's death on Monday."I think Afghanistan is a dangerous spot and the valley he was in was the most dangerous because it's the furthest outpost. I hold on to the thought that they put him there because they knew what a good soldier he was. It might not be true at all, but I guess I have to hold to that," Jane Cox said. She said her son wanted to do something with the foreign service and traveling, and he chose the Army "to use his talents." Nathan Cox was a member of Viper Company, 1st Battalion of Fort Hood, Texas, and was deployed to Afghanistan in July. Cox attended Davenport Central High School. He then joined the Army and served three years in Bosnia in the mid 1990s. He rejoined the Army when he was 29 and made it a career, his mother said. He served a year in Iraq before he was sent to Afghanistan. She said she and Nathan's father, Leslie Cox, last saw their son in June as he was preparing to leave. "He was so good with his young men," she said. "He'd say 'Mom, they're so young and they're away from home for the first time.'" She said her son finally embraced "his gift of being a leader." "He'd run with guys on his own time that needed to lose a little weight. He'd take the time to talk to guys who had broken up with their girlfriends or something. Everybody was at their house all the time." Nathan Cox is survived by his wife, Annie, and 5-year-old daughter, Sophia. Jane Cox said her son w as quite a writer. She said her daughter-in-law told her about "the most beautiful letter" he had written to his daughter. "It's very much Nathan. He talks about what it looks like there, how the sky wraps around you, about the monkeys. Then he talks about that he does things that a lot of daddies don't do, but he'll be home," she said. |
Comments
The memorial service was today at Ft Hood for SSG Cox, Sgt Farley, PFC Gonzales and Pvt Murdock.
We walked among Giants.
Nance-
I sent you a message
Joanne