• Hometown: Bensalem, Pa.
• Unit: 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry
Division
• Died: Sept. 18, 2003, when he was struck by a
low-hanging power line while traveling in a Bradley Fighting
Vehicle.
• Age: 28
Brian Faunce had known what he wanted to do with his life ever since he was 11 and a man came to his school to talk about the Civil Air Patrol.
"He came home all excited and said, 'I want to go.' I took him to the CAP, and he loved it," recounted his mother, Judy Faunce, of Ocean, N.J.
As his father and sister had before him, Faunce attended Penn State on an ROTC scholarship. He earned a degree in Spanish and was assigned to Fort Drum, N.J. It wasn't his first choice, but it was a fortunate one. While there, he met Cheryl Skeide, who would be a prominent part of the Christmas letter he wrote to his family that year:
"I took her up the second-highest peak in the Adirondacks. I realized she was a keeper when she was having a great time on a very difficult hike. I've been falling ever since."
Brian and Cheryl Faunce would have celebrated their third wedding anniversary in April.
Family pictures are a portrait of a perpetually smiling young man who loved the outdoors. He ran marathons and hiked, backpacked and climbed with his wife and their dog, Vegas.
His family was told he was killed while pursuing some Iraqis that troops had found tampering with some equipment, Judy Faunce said.
"He was very committed to what he was doing. He believed what he was doing in Iraq was important, that he was helping the people of Iraq. He achieved what he wanted to and was living his dream.
"He was only the commander of his company for 3 ½ months. It was what he had been waiting for."
His family has established the Cpt. Brian Faunce Memorial Foundation to fund an annual award to a Penn State ROTC student "who best demonstrates the spirit, leadership and courage of Brian." Information is at www.cptbrianfaunce.org.
Mark Wolf
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