REMEMBERING A 'FALLEN HERO'
Joel Egan Baldwin
Chief Builder Joel Egan Baldwin with students at the
Bel Air Elementary School in Gulfport, Miss.,
before his deployment to Iraq.
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Joel Egan Baldwin....
A sailor with ties to Arlington, remembered fondly for his community service work, was buried Dec. 30 in Gulfport, Miss.,
where his unit is based.
Joel Egan Baldwin, 37, was killed Dec. 21st, 2004 in a suicide bombing
outside Mosul, Iraq. He was the 14th member of the armed forces identified in the aftermath of the blast,
and the fourth from Virginia.
HIS DEATH was announced in a Dec. 27
statement from the Defense Department.
Baldwin was assigned to the Navy’s Mobile Construction Battalion 77,
Joel was a Seabee Builder Chief,
he loved the Seabees and was proud of being a part of this group.
Known as the Seabees, his unit is tasked with overseeing
engineering work in Iraq
A special monument is dedicated to the
Seabees at Arlington National Cemetery.
The Defense Department reports 22 people died in the attack
and 69 sustained serious wounds.
In a press conference Dec. 22, Gen. Richard Myers,
chairman of the joint chiefs of staff,
said the explosion appears to be the work of a suicide bomber
carrying an improvised explosive device.
According to Darrell Smith, a spokesman for the Seabees,
Baldwin was known for his extensive work with the public
in Gulfport, Miss., where his unit was based.
Among his recent civic projects,
Baldwin organized the construction crew that built a playground
at his 9-year-old daughter, Cali’s, elementary school.
His home, according to Navy records, is Arlington.
He was born Oct. 16, 1967, and raised in the Republic of Panama - although he was stationed in Gulfport, MS at the time he deployed.
Joel's home was Canal Zone and Bambito, Panama R.P.
Baldwin joined the Navy in 1988 and married
Claudia (Jordan), in 1989.
Claudia was his high school sweetheart and the love of his life,
just as he was hers.
Joel and Claudia had one daughter, Cali Ravai Baldwin,
(she had just turned nine years old when he was killed).
After five years at the Navy’s Construction Battalion Center in Mississippi, Baldwin served with a Naval support unit,
working at the State Department and at a U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
Baldwin’s list of naval awards include:
two Navy Achievement Medals,
four Good Conduct Medals,
an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal,
two Overseas Service Ribbons,
two National Defense Service Medals,
two Navy “E” ribbons,
the M16 rifle expert marksman device,
and Sea Service deployment ribbons.
He was interred with full military honors in
Biloxi National Cemetery, in Mississippi.
He is survived by his wife, Claudia,
his daughter Cali,
sister Kelly Baldwin Morris, brother Andrew and his parents,
Wendy Ruth Kurzdorfer Baldwin and William Baldwin.
What a beautiful human being he must have been --
our heartfelt sympathies to his dear family.
We are so very sorry.
WHAT a price is being paid for the taste of freedom.
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