Local soldier killed in Iraq remembered

ROYERSFORD, Pa. - February 25, 2008 Captain Nathan R. Raudenbush was a lean, good looking young man with an easy laugh. Though, those who knew him best said he could bug you.

""He was the kind of kid who would come by and flick you in the ear," Kevin Raudenbush, Nate's uncle, said.

He could also be a charmer and do the right thing.

Raudenbush was respectful of his many elders, but loved by younger cousins nephews and nieces. He was a boy scout and grew up to have a life long love of hiking.

9/11 occurred during his senior year of high school. Eventually, Nate decided to take an ROTC scholarship that lead to his army commission.

"Nate and profound don't go together. It was more of an assumed thing, you're country needs protecting, I'm going to do that," Dan Raudenbush, Nate's uncle, said of his nephew.

Nate left for Iraq last September, leaving behind a wife and baby. He told his Uncle Kevin before leaving that he has to go do this and he has to be there for his country.

The uncles say the departure was especially tough on Nate's mom.

"She was very active in church, and it's a pacifist church so she had mixed emotions on that level," Dan Raudenbush said.