Freedom Remembered

Born: February 14, 2024
Died: June 4, 2024 in Kandahar, Afghanistan

Joseph was from the Sag Harbor/Shelter Island area of New York. He grew up listening to the stories his grandfather told about surviving the attack on December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor and other tales of WWII. Joseph grew up with a strong sense of patriotism; he was focused on achieving his goal of serving his country. His father was a firefighter for the city of New York, and at the age of 15 Joe watched the 9-11 terrorist attacks, knowing that many of his father’s friends were killed. On his 18th birthday he signed up for military service. He set his sights on attending West Point and was twice nominated for entry. But instead chose to attend college so he could be commissioned into the Army faster. He graduated from New York State University-Albany with a degree in history in 2008 and had also been in the ROTC program through Siena College. His summers were spent visiting WWII battlefields and cemeteries, which held the remains of the dead from WWII. One trip in particular was to Normandy, France. At the American Cemetery and Memorial, Joseph stopped at every grave to pay his respect. In his college photo album he wrote, “There is nothing glorious about war, but I will go to it to keep the people I love away from it. 9-11- never forget.” Commissioned as an Army officer in May 2008, he volunteered for a program in the National Guard that would have him serve three years active duty. People would stop him in the street to thank him for serving his country and Joseph would get a strange look on his face. He didn’t understand why. Assigned to 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), from Fort Drum, N.Y. He lived his dream when he put on the Stetson hat, cowboy boots and spurs associated with the division. Before his late spring 2010 deployment to Afghanistan he said he was going to keep the terrorists off American soil. It wasn’t about politics; it was to prevent what happened in New York City from happening again. To keep the fight on foreign soil. When asked if he was nervous about going to Afghanistan, he looked them right in the eye and said he was born for this. On June 4 he was leading his platoon of 20 men when they came under fire. An IED was found and Joseph had his men step back while he disabled it. When finished he found another and it detonated before he was able to disarm it. Joseph’s remains took one last ride through Sag Harbor and over the Jordan Haerter Bridge on the way to the island. Jordan was a Marine from Sag Harbor killed in Iraq in 2008. Joseph’s family stated he would have wanted to go across that bridge. It just seemed right. While some seemed angry about Joe’s death, his family was proud he led the life he dreamed. A quote by George Orwell was read by his eldest brother at Joseph’s funeral, “We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf.” That was Joe.

Burial was in Our Lady of the Isle Cemetery in Dering Harbor, New York, located on Shelter Island.

The 1st Lt. Joseph J. Theinert by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.