Born ‎3 Feb 1977 Wisconsin, died ‎27 May 2005 Iraq‎, age 28 years
Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Joshua Michael Scott
Died May 27, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom
28, of Sun Prairie, Wis.; assigned to the 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died May 27 of injuries sustained on May 26 when his OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter came under attack from small-arms fire and crashed in Buhriz, Iraq. Also killed was Chief Warrant Officer 4 Matthew Scott Lourey.


SUN PRAIRIE SOLDIER IS KILLED IN IRAQ
Tim Cigelske Wisconsin State Journal May 29, 2005

Catherine Scott paged through a huge three-ring binder on Saturday afternoon that held her son's awards and promotions from his decade-long military career.

Always the perfectionist, Chief Warrant Officer Joshua Scott won lavish praise from his Army superiors who commended him for his "outstanding moral character" and "self-sacrifice." Scott was flooded with so much recognition that his mother couldn't even fit all the honors in her binder.

"He didn't do it for the glory," said Catherine Scott, surrounded at her kitchen table by friends, family and flowers from sympathetic well-wishers. "He did it because it was something he believed in."

Joshua Scott, 28, a Sun Prairie High School graduate with family in Madison, died Friday from injuries sustained Thursday in Buhriz, Iraq, when his OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter came under attack and crashed, according to the Department of Defense.

Scott is the second Wisconsin soldier killed in the week leading up to Memorial Day. Army Cpl. Mark Maida, 21, of Madison was killed in Baghdad on Thursday when his Humvee struck a homemade bomb, according to his family.

The number of Wisconsin soldiers killed in Iraq now stands at 37, according to Lt. Col. Tim Donovan.

Scott died in the same crash that killed Chief Warrant Officer Matt Lourey, the son of Minnesota state Sen. Becky Lourey. Both soldiers were from the Army's 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, N.C.

"Everybody cared about him because he cared about a lot of people," Scott's mother said Saturday, her voice choked with tears. "Even when he was in Iraq, we would send him toys because he wanted to give them to the kids."

Scott leaves behind relatives in Madison, including his mother, grandmother and two sisters. In North Carolina, he had a 6-month-old baby daughter and a nearly 2-year-old daughter with his wife, Sherri. He was also the legal guardian the past five years of a 16-year-old boy whom he rescued from a troubled home in Sun Prairie.

When Scott was deployed overseas last year on Nov. 11 - Veterans' Day - his family from Madison drove down to North Carolina to send him off. It was the last time they saw him.

"He just told us that he would be back in January of 2006," Catherine Scott said. "He said he was going to Kentucky to be in the 160th group - an elite Army group."

Scott said her son was attracted to the Army at the early age of 4 or 5 and joined immediately after graduating from high school in 1995. He started as a light vehicle mechanic and worked his way up to airborne ranger and chief warrant officer and was stationed in Germany, South Korea and Alabama.

"Josh was very proud to serve in the Army," Scott said. "He really believed in the Army."

Doris Scott said she knew she couldn't talk her grandson out of going into the Army after she saw the recruiter's shiny black shoes. Buffed and polished, the shoes represented the quality that appealed to Scott's stickler tendencies.

"Josh was such a perfectionist," she said. "He would send his sisters back home before school to get their shoes cleaned."

A memorial service to be held in Sun Prairie is being planned.