R.I.P. Spc. Joshua A. Tomlinson

Army Spc. Joshua A. Tomlinson
Died May 18, 2010 serving during Operation Enduring Freedom

Army Spc. Joshua A. Tomlinson, 24, of Dubberly, La.; assigned to Special Troops Battalion, V Corps, Heidelberg, Germany; died May 18 in Kabul, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered in a suicide car bombing. Also killed were Col. John M. McHugh, Lt. Col. Paul R. Bartz, Lt. Col. Thomas P. Belkofer, and Staff Sgt. Richard J. Tieman.

(The following was taken from www.thetowntalk.com of May 28, 2010) MINDEN — Heroism mixed with humor Thursday in a tribute to one of the area's latest fallen soldiers.

Friends and family honored U.S. Army Spc. Joshua Abram Tomlinson, 24, of Dubberly, with childhood stories and poems about military service. Hundreds gathered just days before Memorial Day for a candlelight vigil between downtown's Broadway and Main streets.

An avid hunter and fisherman, Tomlinson could get a little noisy near the deer stand, said first cousin the Rev. Jimbo Yocom, who led the ceremony. That was welcome if a fellow hunter missed his buddy, but not for surprising prey.

"You could hear those size 12s from a mile away," Yocom said to laughter from a crowd dressed in everything from slacks to shorts and denim motorcycle vests adorned with U.S. flags. "I think he could make a mime laugh."

Tomlinson's mother, Rebecca Jobe, 47, of Minden, thanked residents of Webster Parish and the surrounding area for kindness. She also is grateful for the military's "dignified transfer" policy, which allows family members to view caskets of their slain loved as they're removed from planes and brought back to the United States.

"It's just good to know that he's back on American soil," Jobe said just before Thursday's event. "It's a sense of release."

Readings included poems that thanked soldiers for freedoms. Supporters held red and blue candles of all sizes in holders made from throwaway cups. They planned to float them in nearby Turner's Pond afterward near a brick war memorial.

Jerry Madden, of Minden and himself the father of a soldier killed in battle, said he has offered encouragement to Tomlinson's father, Carl Tomlinson, of Dubberly.

"I told him, 'Many people are going to tell you that they know how you feel, but they don't,'" said Madden, whose son Sgt. Joshua Barrett Madden died in December 2006 in Iraq. "On Saturday, when everything's over and the cars drive off, it's really
going to hit him."

Tomlinson, a 2004 graduate of Lakeside High School in Sibley, died May 18 in Afghanistan. Besides siblings, he leaves behind wife Rowena Cruz Tomlinson. He was assigned to the Special Troops Battalion of V Corps based in Germany. He was one
of five soldiers killed when a car bomb exploded.