DAPHNE, Ala.— City and state officials joined 100 people outside City Hall yesterday to honor America’s servicemen and women and to remember a local hero who died in Iraq in 2003.

Congressman Jo Bonner and state Rep. Randy Davis presented Maria Bueche—mother of Army Spc. Paul Bueche—with a medal in rememberance of her son’s service.

“It’s good that Paul still gets remembered,” Maria Bueche said. “He’s been dead for five years.”

Paul Bueche, who’d been in the 131st Aviation Regiment based in Birmingham, Ala., was 19 when he was killed in battle during Operation Iraqi Freedom on Oct. 21, 2003; a helicopter tire he was working on exploded.  He was survived by his parents, Paul and Maria, and older sisters Jessica and Melissa.

“He was the 341st soldier to be killed, right when the war started,” his mother said.

Bueche joined the National Guard four days before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and served in Kuwait and Iraq, according to a legacy.com project by the Washington Post to honor fallen service men and women.

See rest of story in Nov. 12 Daphne Bulletin