Robert Weber, on 2nd tour of duty, dies in roll-over accident

NORTH COLLEGE HILL - Army Spc. Robert Weber talked to his aunt two weeks ago from Iraq. He told her how his latest deployment seemed more dangerous than his first tour of duty in 2004.

The 22-year-old Delhi Township native was going on daily missions. Attacks were more frequent. The roads were dotted with craters from explosives, he added in an e-mail to his father last Tuesday.

Saturday night his commander called his family with news of Weber's death. He died from injuries suffered in a Humvee crash while on a mission 2½ hours southwest of Mosul, where he was stationed.

"I want people to know how brave he was," said his aunt, Debbie Niehoff, 52, of North College Hill. "I want people to know his heart was huge."

Niehoff is the family spokeswoman for Weber's parents: Cathy Weber, also of North College Hill, and Martin Weber of Westwood.

The thin, 5-foot-9-inch soldier "with the bright blue eyes" that his aunt Debbie called "Bob" or "Bobby" was their only child.

Weber's commanding officer filled in the family as best he could with details of the soldier's death. He told them Weber was in a convoy riding in the last of five Humvees. As a gunner, he was sitting on top. While the convoy was on the move, Weber's Humvee swerved, hit an embankment and flipped, Niehoff said.

"He took the brunt of the flip," she added.

"They got him into a helicopter to take him to a hospital, but he didn't make it," Niehoff said.

Weber, a 2003 Dater High School graduate, joined the Army in 2004.

Just last week, he told family members about his plans for his civilian life. After the Army, he planned to enroll in college and earn a degree and teach history, Niehoff said.

He was proud to serve in Iraq, she added. "He felt like he was doing the right thing," Niehoff said.

Niehoff said she would always remember her nephew for his willingness to help anyone in need. She recalled him coming to her house during the 2004 Christmas storm. He shoveled her driveway and then turned to his aunt's neighbor, who was home with two children, and did the same for her.

He didn't quit there.

"He worked all day helping neighbors," Niehoff said.

Weber's body was shipped to the United States on Sunday.

Niehoff said funeral arrangements are not complete, but least a week will go by before Weber comes home to Cincinnati one last time.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer