Service:  ARMY
Component:  ACTIVE DUTY
Name:  GIRE, JOSHUA SETH
Rank:  SSG
Pay Grade:  E06
Date of Death:  2011/03/22
Age:  28
Gender:  MALE
Home of Record City:  CHILLICOTHE
Home of Record State:  OH
Home of Record Country:  US
Unit:  541ST ENGINEER COMPANY (SAPPER), 54TH ENGINEER BN, 18TH EN BDE, BAMBERG, GERMANY
Incident Geographic Code:  AF
Casualty Geographic Code:  AF
Casualty Country:  AFGHANISTAN
City of Loss:  BANDOLA

Burial Location:
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia
Section 60 Site 9694

Memorial Video:
Memorial Video for SSG Joshua Gire and PFC Michael Mahr

Josh Gire was eager to join the Army in 2001, but not because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks – the reason many others joined that year. He enlisted before the attacks.

Gire, of Chillicothe, Ohio, always wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, who served in Vietnam, and grandfather, who served in World War II, said his cousin, Kellie Uhrig.

“It was in his blood. He was very proud of what he was doing. He always wanted to serve,” Uhrig told The Columbus Dispatch.

His service took him across the globe; he served in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, and most recently was based in Bamberg, Germany.

It was in Afghanistan that his service ended. Gire, 28, was killed March 22 in Logar province after an attack on his unit.

Family members say Gire, a 2000 graduate of Huntington High School, knew the dangers and served proudly.

“He was one that I never doubted was doing his job and doing it correctly, so I always envisioned him coming home more than anyone else,” another cousin, Jason Uhrig, told Columbus TV station 10TV.

Survivors include his wife, Jackie, 5-year-old son Nicholas and 2-year-old daughter Riley.