War fatality was
Waianae grad

The tank crewman was killed
in Iraq and friends say that he
moved to Kentucky on a whim

SOMERSET, Ky. >> A soldier killed in Iraq this week who listed his home as Somerset was a footloose free spirit from a difficult background, moving from Hawaii to Kentucky seemingly on a whim, but had joined the Army for structure, a fresh start and money for college.

Stationed in Korea before going to Iraq, Joshua K. "Buzz" Titcomb, 20, had met a woman who was also in the military; she found out recently she was pregnant and the excited couple planned to marry, friends said.

"He was just getting his life on track. That's what's so sad," said Karen Ashley of Stevenson, Wash., whose son Jared Johnson was a friend of Titcomb's.

Titcomb, a crewman on a tank, died Wednesday in Ar Ramadi of wounds he sustained the day before when an improvised explosive device exploded near his vehicle, according to the Army.

There were no details of the attack available, said Army spokeswoman Maj. Elizabeth Robbins, nor was any information available on funeral arrangements. Titcomb was the 12th soldier killed in Iraq listed as being from Kentucky, said Martha Rudd, another Army spokeswoman.

Titcomb grew up in Hawaii and had no family in Somerset, but was staying with a friend in town when he joined the Army in August 2003. He listed Somerset as his home of record, though his parents live in Hawaii.

Titcomb attended Waianae High School, and graduated in 2001, according to the state Department of Education. Attempts to reach Titcomb's family were unsuccessful.

Titcomb's friend in Somerset, cosmetologist Tyler Blackburn, said Titcomb had lived with her or with friends in Washington in 2004. When he decided to enter the Army, he wanted to do it from Kentucky because he loved the state, Blackburn said.

Titcomb moved to Lexington in the summer of 2001 after meeting a couple from the city vacationing in Honolulu. Lindsey Newsom said she and her boyfriend, Jared Johnson, asked Titcomb for directions and he and Johnson "just hit it off instantly."

Friends said Titcomb was a fun-loving, outgoing teen who wasn't shy about introducing himself to a table full of girls at a restaurant. He loved to play video games and talk on the phone.

"We all loved him," Blackburn said of herself and her family. "He was just a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of person."

Blackburn said Titcomb decided to join the Army at 19 because he wanted the discipline and wanted to change his life, wanted to get an education and have a family and buy a car.

Titcomb went through training at Fort Knox and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 72nd Armor Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division at Camp Casey, Korea. He had been in Iraq since August, Blackburn said.

He had called friends from there a number of times. Blackburn said he told them he couldn't give details of his missions, but each said he was worried in their most recent talks with him.