Marine Pfc. Joshua S. Ose

Remember Our Heroes

Marine Pfc. Joshua S. Ose, 19, of Hernando, Miss.

Pfc. Ose was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died Sept. 20, 2010 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

19-year-old Marine from Mississippi dies in Afghanistan

JACKSON — Joshua Ose’s mother said he was so determined to join the Marine Corps he signed up during his senior year in high school, committing himself to begin boot camp just a few weeks after graduating from Hernando High School in 2009.

The Department of Defense said Tuesday the 19-year-old private first-class was killed Monday while on foot patrol in Afghanistan. The Marine Corps said Ose was struck by small-arms fire in the southern Helmand Province.

Ose was assigned to a unit based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.. His mother, Sissy Ose, said he had been in Afghanistan about two weeks.

Sissy Ose said in a telephone interview Tuesday from the family’s home in Hernando her son, who went by Josh, was in junior high when he started talking about entering the military. She said she encouraged him to choose his own path in life.

Josh Ose was a gun enthusiast and worked during high school at a local farm where people would shoot each other with paint balls for fun, his mother said. She said the last time he was home, he played paint ball for two days.

“He had a great imagination and could come up with some really adventurous things to do,” she said. “He called them his shenanigans.”

The shenanigans were sometimes the kind that invited attention from law officers, his mother said with a laugh. During high school, for example, Josh and one of his friends put on life vests and jumped off local bridges into the Coldwater River, which was swollen from heavy rainfall.

“I did not discourage his adventures or condemn him when the sheriff’s department called and we had to go there when he had been jumping off a bridge — which is not illegal in Mississippi,” Sissy Ose said.

Josh Ose was an only child. He is also survived by his father, Ross Ose. Josh's father Ross had been traveling on business when the family received word of Josh's death.

Each side of Josh Ose’s family has a history of military service, with a paternal forefather who fought in the Civil War, his mother said.

The Ose family’s minister, the Rev. Chip Hatcher of First Presbyterian Church in Hernando, said Josh Ose thought the purest form of military service was being an enlisted Marine.

“I want people to remember him as a very authentic young man and someone who really was his own person,” Hatcher said. “He wasn’t one to follow the crowd. I think other people followed him.”

(Hernando, MS 09/21/2010) -- When Joshua Ose graduated from Hernando High School last year he knew he was going to be a Marine. He knew he wanted to be a part of the infantry and he knew he'd probably have to go to war.

Josh's Pastor, Robert "Chip" Hatcher, recently saw him. Josh was in Hernando visiting family before he was to start his tour in Afghanistan. He came to church in his dress blues.

"You always send somebody off with the hopes that they're going to come home and have a lot of stories to tell. Unfortunately, we won't be able to hear those stories from Josh."

Sunday, Josh was hit by small arms fire while on foot patrol in Afghanistan. He died as he was being airlifted to a field hospital. The 19-year old Marine was two weeks into his tour.

"He believed in what the Marine Corps was about. He believed in the mission, as controversial as it may be, and he knew somebody needed to go over there and do a good job. He thought he could do that."

Word that Ose died in the line of duty is quickly spreading around Hernando. His neighbor, James Oliver, remembers the pride Ose had about becoming a Marine.

"He said he wanted to be a Marine. He wanted to do his share. This is really a tragic loss. Unfortunately he's the only child the family had," said Oliver. Josh Ose would have turned 20 years old in October.

Those who know Ose say he died doing what he loved and to them he's a hero. The mayor recalled Ose's enthusiasm to serve and said "he was the best shot in the Hernando Rifle and Pistol Club. He was way better than I was.

"He really excelled when he was in boot camp. He was in his element." The Marine Corps' official notification to the office of U.S. Rep. Travis Childers, D-Miss., identified Ose as a member of the 2nd Marine Division from Camp Lejeune, N.C. A U.S. flag will be flown over the Capitol in Washington today in Ose's honor, according to Childers' office.

"The shock of this event is still very real, and many tears have been shed as the news has filtered through our community." On his Facebook page, which Tuesday carried a picture of a helmet as a profile photo, Ose's "likes" included Domino's Pizza and the Marine Corps.

"So I'm 'bout gone," Ose said in one of his last Facebook postings on Sept. 2. "I (sic) catch ya'll on the flip side."

"In that I feel the love that Josh had for his home, for his church, his community and especially his country," said Pastor Hatcher. Friends and church members describe Josh Ose as a polite young man who was a little on the mischievous side as a boy.

"He was a striking figure in his dress blues," Hatcher said. Josh Ose was the very first child Hatcher baptized when he became pastor in this North Mississippi town of about 15,000.

"Josh loved the U.S. Marine Corps and the nation he had pledged to defend through his service in the Corps," Hatcher said. "He believed in the mission his unit was undertaking in Afghanistan, and he was fully committed to his calling as a Marine. In my mind Josh will always represent the noble ideals of patriotism and self-sacrifice, and in my heart, he will always be a hero."

Pfc. Ose leaves behind his parents Ross and Sissy Ose as well as numerous friends and church members in his community to include: his aunts and uncles, Scott and Sherry Fernandez and Brenda and John Conrad; his great-aunt, Shirley Carter of Hernando; and a host of other great-aunts, great-uncles and cousins.

Marine Pfc. Joshua S. Ose was killed in action on 9/20/10.