Nathan R. Raudenbush

Sunday, February 24 2008 @ 02:05 AM EST

Philadelphia Inquirer -- Nathan R. Raudenbush missed his family's annual Christmas Eve get-together last year, so his parents, sister, aunts, uncles and cousins, all 56 of them, sent their greetings and good wishes to him in Iraq on a DVD.

He never got a chance to see it.

On Wednesday, Raudenbush, 25, a first lieutenant in the Army, was killed in Busayefi, south of Baghdad, when the armored humvee in which he was riding hit a roadside bomb and blew up, said his uncle Kevin Raudenbush.

"It is really unbelievable that this has happened," he said from his home in Berks County yesterday, "but we were so happy we had a chance to honor him Christmas Eve."

Kevin Raudenbush said his nephew had told the family that there had been no time to sit down to watch the DVD.

The son of Mary and Brian Raudenbush of Douglassville, Berks County, Nathan Raudenbush was a graduate of Spring-Ford High School in Royersford and a member of of the 2005 Class of Widener University in Chester, where he was a member of the Army ROTC.

"We called his class the Class of 9/11," said Lt. Col. Robert Sewall, professor of military science at Widener and commander of the ROTC Freedom Battalion, based at the university. He said it was the largest ROTC class commissioned at Widener in the last decade. Raudenbush's death was the first in the unit since the Gulf War.

"He was a very good cadet," Sewall said of his former student. "I always thought he had a great command presence about him. He was an excellent mentor of the more junior cadets."

Sewall said that Raudenbush had a great sense of humor - witty, funny and quick on his feet. He was on the ROTC "Ten-Mile" running team.

"The entire Widener community was absolutely devastated by this news," he said. "It's tough to deal with a loss like this."

Raudenbush was a tank commander with the Third Battalion, Seventh Infantry Regiment, Fourth Brigade Combat Team, Third Infantry Division, out of Fort Stewart, Ga., according to the Defense Department. He was deployed to Iraq in September.

Sewall said Raudenbush met his wife, Casey, at Widener, where she also was in ROTC, training to be an Army nurse. The couple have a 20-month-old son, Jackson.

"I want people to know that this was a great kid," said his uncle. "He knew the dangers, but he wanted to do this for his country."

Two other soldiers were injured in the incident.

Raudenbush said that funeral arrangements were incomplete. Sewall said there would be a memorial service at the university at a later date.

A college fund has been set up for Raudenbush's son Jackson. Contributions to the fund can be mailed to the Nathan R. Raudenbush Memorial Fund, c/o National Penn Bank, 702 Main Street, Phoenixville, Pa 19460. Contributions can also be dropped off at any National Penn Bank branch.

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