Staff Sgt Paul Brandon Norris
Born Jan. 13, 1977
Died Aug. 16, 2007 in Balad, Iraq
Paul grew up in a relatively small town, never getting into any trouble. He fished, played soccer and loved his family. He graduated from Holly Pond Alabama High School and enlisted in the Army afterwards. His mother, a factory worker, always told her kids she wanted them to have a better life than she had. Factory work was not a good life for her and she hoped her children would have easier careers. Paul served 3 tours of duty in Bosnia then spent some time in the Secret Service stationed at the Pentagon, leaving there just a few days shy of the 9-11-2001 terrorist attacks. He went on to work at NATO Headquarters in Belgium, where he met his wife Eva. Paul switched jobs, thinking that a job as a military police officer would involve less travel. He was wrong. He and Eva moved to Germany in late 2002 and during that move, in Paul received news that his two sisters had been killed instantly in an automobile crash caused by a man under the influence of drugs. Paul came home for their funeral then left after telling his mother, with tears streaming down his face, “Mom, I’ve cried all the tears I can cry for my sisters. I got to go back and get my men ready to fight. Their lives depend on me, and I’ve got to be there for them. But know this. If something happens to me, the last thing that’s going to go through my head is you, my two dead sisters and my brother. And when they hand you that flag, you hold it high and be proud.” Paul went on to serve tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan before returning to the states. Separated from Eva, he never gave up his love and devotion to their daughter Isabella. She was the light of his life. Paul left for another tour of duty in Iraq just after father’s Day in 2007, assigned to the 401st Military Police Company, 720th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade, out of Fort Hood, Texas. He died from a non-combat related incident. Paul was survived by his wife; daughter; parents; brother and a grandmother. Besides his sisters, he was preceded in death by his two grandfathers and his other grandmother who died a few weeks after his sisters were killed.
Paul was buried in Welti Cemetery in Cullman, Alabama.
The Staff Sgt Paul Brandon Norris by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
