16 Facts About Joshua Wheeler

Joshua Lloyd Wheeler was a United States Army soldier who was killed in Iraq during Operation Inherent Resolve.

Joshua Wheeler was a master sergeant assigned to the elite Delta Force, and was the first American service member killed in action as a result of enemy fire while fighting ISIS militants.

Joshua Wheeler was the first American to be killed in action in Iraq since November 2011.

Joshua Wheeler was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, the Purple Heart and the Medal of Patriotism.

Joshua Wheeler graduated from Muldrow High School in Muldrow, Oklahoma in 1994.

Joshua Wheeler enlisted in the United States Army in May 1995 as an infantryman and completed basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Joshua Wheeler was then stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington and assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment until 1997 when he was assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.

Joshua Wheeler deployed three times in support of combat operations to Afghanistan and Iraq with the 75th Ranger Regiment.

In 2004 Joshua Wheeler was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and was assigned to the United States Army Special Operations Command's Delta Force in which he was a team leader deploying 11 times to Afghanistan and Iraq in support of combat operations.

Joshua Wheeler was killed in the predawn hours of 22 October 2015 during Operation Inherent Resolve as a result of enemy small-arms fire sustained during a raid on an ISIS prison compound 7 kilometres North of the town of Hawija in Iraq's Kirkuk province.

Joshua Wheeler was one of around 30 US special operations soldiers who fought alongside Kurdish Counter-terrorism unit peshmerga forces.

Joshua Wheeler was directing the Kurdish attack on the prison and joined the fighting when those who had breached the compound came under fire inside.

Reports stated that Joshua Wheeler ran toward the sound of the gunfire and that his actions along with those of one of his teammates ensured the success of the operation and protected those Kurdish fighters who had breached the compound.

Joshua Wheeler lived in North Carolina with his four sons and wife, Ashley, who had given birth in August 2015 to his fourth son.

Joshua Wheeler was a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Patriotism by the Cherokee Nation in July 2016.

At the time of his death Joshua Wheeler had been awarded the following awards and decorations, except for the Silver Star, the Purple Heart and the Medal of Patriotism, which were awarded posthumously.