Joseph A. Rahaim
Profile
Age: 22
From: Magnolia, Miss.
Assigned to the 1st Battalion, 155th Infantry Regiment (Mechanized), Mississippi Army National Guard, McComb, Miss.
Incident: Army Spc. Joseph A. Rahaim was killed Feb. 16 when a roadway collapsed, causing his vehicle to roll over, at Forward Operating Base Iskandariyah, Iraq. Also
Died: February 16, 2005
Mississippi Guardsman awarded posthumous Bronze Star
By Ed Shearer
Associated Press
SNELLVILLE, Ga. — Spc. Joseph Andrew “Drew” Rahaim, a Mississippi National Guardsman who died in a vehicle accident last week in Iraq, was awarded the Bronze Star and the Mississippi Medal of Valor posthumously during his funeral on Thursday.
Maj. Gen. Harold Cross, adjutant of Mississippi, presented the citations and medals he called “two of our nation’s highest awards” during the service at Wages Snellville Chapel, with about 200 people in attendance.
A lone bagpiper began the service, marching into the chapel playing “Dixie” and the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and ended the 50-minute service playing “Amazing Grace” as military pallbearers escorted the flag-draped coffin to the hearse for a 120-mile drive to Rahaim’s final resting place, the Fort Benning National Cemetery.
Rahaim and Sgt. Timothy Osbey were killed last week when...