Collin Schockmel reported killed in Iraq

RICHWOOD — Family members are mourning the death of a 19-year-old relative, but said they are blessed they got to see the soldier days before he died Tuesday in Iraq.

Richwood resident Lauren Crim said she received a phone call about noon Tuesday from her sister, Kristin Shinn, in Arizona with news that her nephew,

Pvt. Collin Schockmel, died in Ramadi, Iraq.

The circumstances of his death and the Army unit to which he was assigned were not available late Tuesday.

“It’s just hard,” Crim said. “He was wonderful. He had a great sense of humor. He was very close to my son. He’s like another son to me.”

Though Schockmel began his tour in Iraq in late October, he was given permission to return to the United States for the Christmas holiday, said Crim’s husband, Randy Crim.

“According to him, he was given a Christmas leave because, I guess, something that he had done outstanding in his unit, and the sergeant forgot to recognize him for it so he bumped a couple of other people out and let him come home for Christmas,” Randy Crim said. “Normally, he wouldn’t have been able to come home until, I think, August.”

Schockmel spent half of his vacation in Richwood and the other half in Sierra Vista, Ariz., with his mother and siblings, Lauren Crim said.

On the morning of Jan. 9, Schockmel left the United States en route to Iraq, but he still kept in contact by phone, Lauren said. She received a phone call from her nephew Monday afternoon while he was in Iraq. He wanted photos taken during the Christmas holidays of the family to hang on his wall.

“We’d joke some, and I told him I’d be praying for him and I loved him and stay safe,” she said, describing their conversation. “Well, his last words of course, were ‘I love you.’”

Everyone knew Schockmel planned to join the Army after graduation, but he surprised the family when he dropped out of Brazoswood High School his senior year, got his GED and joined the Army in 2005, the aunt said.

“We had hoped that he had stayed in school and of course with the war going on, we were very worried about him,” she said. “But we supported him because we knew that’s his choice, and once he made it, he needed all of our support.”

Schockmel spent most of his life living in different cities within Brazoria County, Randy Crim said.

He was religious and participated in many church activities, Lauren Crim said.

“He was very close to his church family,” she said. “He loved his church family.”

Funeral arrangements have not been discussed yet, and it’s unclear whether the funeral will be in Brazoria County or in Arizona, Lauren Crim said.

“We’re at least going to do a memorial service, but I don’t know if we’re gonna do it all here,” she said.

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