JACKSON - Joshua Isaac Bunch of Hattiesburg had only been in Iraq a month when he was killed Friday after his convoy came under attack by rocket-propelled grenade launchers and small arms fire while patrolling in Baghdad.
Bunch, 23, became the 15th Mississippian to die in the war in Iraq. He was deployed to Iraq from Fort Hood, Texas, where he was with the U.S Army's Bravo 91st Engineer Battalion First Calvary Division. It was his first tour of duty in Iraq and he was expected to be there eight months, family members said.
Bunch's Humvee rolled over during the attack and Army officials told the family that's what killed him, said his brother-in-law Joe Lee, a policeman in Hattiesburg.
Bunch had been active duty military for three years. He served as a combat engineer.
Bunch grew up in Hattiesburg and graduated from North Forrest High School in 1999. "He lived life to the fullest," Lee said Monday.
Bunch's parents, Bill and Karen Bunch, said arrangements hadn't been made. Bunch also is survived by a sister Sarah Lee, 25, of Sumrall. His father is a retired firefighter in Hattiesburg.
North Forrest High School Principal Mike Papas, who was the junior high principal when Bunch was at the school, said he remembers Bunch as being a good kid. "He was just a good kid who worked hard and tried to be the best he could be and for him to give his life in protecting our freedoms, that speaks highly of him and all the people serving in Iraq," Papas said.
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