JACKSON, Miss.—Army Spc. Benjamin K. Brosh is described as an adventurous man who wanted to be on the front lines protecting his buddies and a caring person who enjoyed passing out soccer balls to Iraqi children.
“He was scared but he had the courage to overcome it. There was no such thing as backing down,” said his father, James Brosh, of Biloxi. “The Army was his life.”
Benjamin Brosh, a 22-year-old Biloxi native whose hometown was listed by the military as Colorado Springs, Colo., where his mother lives, died in a vehicle blast April 18 at Forward Operating Base Anaconda in Iraq.
He is to be buried Saturday in Biloxi.
“He believed in what he was doing—seriously believed in it ,” James Brosh said. “He was in quite a few firefights. He was front-line infantry. He chose that.”
The soldier had been home-schooled for several years in Biloxi before getting his general education diploma at Gulf Coast Community College. He then started a crabbing business “and knew the water better than he knew the land,” but suffered several setbacks, including Hurricane Katrina, before joining the Army in 2006, James Brosh said.
During a recent trip home on leave, Benjamin Brosh told his father how much he enjoyed giving out soccer balls to children in Iraq, then challenging the youngsters to a friendly game.
“Can you see somebody out there in full body armor playing soccer?” his father asked with a quiet chuckle under his strained voice. “He got along real good with the Iraqi people. He felt sorry for them for what they’d been through.”
Benjamin Brosh also told his father of the brutality of war, and the struggles some soldiers have coping with their experiences on the battlefield. Many of the troops, the soldier told his father, were most troubled to see children used as human shields or slain for associating with Americans.
Benjamin Brosh was the “rock,” who his Army buddies depended on for advice and reassurance, the father said.
“When he was home on leave, after three days, he was antsy to get back because he thought he had to protect his buddies,” James Brosh said. “I have a great loss from this war. And I’m not bitter. I know that he’s fine. He’s not gone like some people believe.”
Brosh’s body was expected to arrive at an Air National Guard facility in Gulfport on Friday about 9:20 a.m., and there will be a plane-side ceremony, said Matthew Dubaz, a funeral director with Bradford O’Keefe Funeral Home. The funeral service will be at noon Saturday at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Biloxi. Friends may call two hours prior, Dubaz said. Burial will follow at the Biloxi National Cemetery.
Benjamin Brosh was assigned to D Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. He was assigned to Fort Campbell in Kentucky in December 2006.
