Army Private First Class Rachel K. Bosveld - Wisconsin Military Casualty Compilation - Afghanistan/Iraq

9 August 2011

Army Private First Class Rachel K. Bosveld - Wisconsin Military Casualty Compilation - Afghanistan/Iraq

This entry was posted on 8/9/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Wisconsin Military Casualties Afghanistan Iraq Compilation.

Army Private First Class Rachel Krista Heather Bosveld, 19, Waupun, Wisconsin, was killed Sunday, October 26, 2003, in Baghdad, Iraq. She was killed during a mortar attack on the Abu Ghraib Police Station. Private First Class Bosveld was in the Army's 527th Military Police, V Corps, out of Giesen, Germany. Bosveld went to boot camp at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, right after graduating from Waupun High School in 2002. She had also spent two yeas in high school in Oshkosh. She arrived in Iraq in March of 2003. Bosveld's father is an Army veteran; her stepbrother, Aaron Krebs, was in the Marines; and her older brother Graig had also been in the Army. 

The Web site channel3000.com notes Bosveld was a military police officer training Iraqi officers when she was killed. She was on night patrol where she thought she would be safer, but had recently switched to day patrol. She had sustained injuries in an earlier attack in September when the vehicle she was in was destroyed. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes Army Private First Class Rachel K. Bosveld was the state's first female soldier to die in war since Army Sergeant Cheryl LaBeau-O'Brien, of Caledonia, was killed in a helicopter crash during the 1991 Gulf War. 

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel went on to say Rachel had hoped to at some point go to college with an interest in law enforcement. Or, perhaps be a graphic artist. She had played the violin since the fourth grade, done oil painting, and had been an "innovative and reliable" student director for the drama club. She played soccer and sang in the choir at Waupun High. 

Wisconsin 2003 Assembly Joint Resolution 57 notes Rachel Bosveld was born on November 7, 1983, in Neenah, Wisconsin. The Web site iraq.pigstye.net with information gleaned from The Fond Du Lac Reporter notes Rachel was just under two months old when she was adopted by the Bosvelds. They had been serving as foster parents when Rachel came to them as a neglected baby.

At the time of her death Army Private First Class Rachel Bosveld was survived by her mother Mary Bosveld; father and stepmother Marvin and Julie Bosveld; older brother Craig Bosveld; stepbrother Aaron Krebs; stepsister Jamie Krebs; and, maternal grandmother Marion Swonger.

The Post Crescent out of the Appleton area notes Rachel's mother Mary is in the process of gathering support to create a Wisconsin Women Veteran's' Memorial for the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. She hoped the site might be near the Fox Cities of Grand Chute or Appleton. 

Information for this short biography about Army Private First Class Rachel Krista Heather Bosveld was pieced together from the following sources: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Her heart had been set on Army, but now she longed to come home," October 29, 2003;  channel3000.com, "Wisconsin Soldier Killed In Baghdad Was 'Chosen Child,'" October, 28, 2003;  2003 Wisconsin Assembly Joint Resolution 57, "Relating to: the life Army Private First Class Rachel Bosveld";  iraq.pigstye.com (Fond Du Lac Reporter), "Rachel Bosveld," November 3, 2003; The Post Crescent, "Daughter's death sparks idea for war memorial," May 29, 2011;  Wisconsin Department of Veteran Affairs "Fallen Heroes Page";  and, CNN.com "War Casualties Page." 

Note: This "Wisconsin Military Casualties Afghanistan Iraq Compilation" Daily Dadio blog Category is under construction. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Wisconsin War Casualties Page for a list of names noted by date of death. 
[ If readers know of other military service persons with Wisconsin connections that are not on the Web site comprehensive list of fatal casualties, or notice errors, please email Bob Keith at keithrg13@cooldadiomedia.com ]