Evan Bixler remembered

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Little more than a year ago, Evan Bixler comforted Spc. Eric Poelman's parents when his best friend was killed in Iraq.

On Christmas, Poelman's parents comforted Bixler's after he also was killed.

Lisa Bixler had told them not to come, fearing it would bring back bad memories of their son's death.

"I had to be here," Sally Poelman told Lisa Bixler as she walked through the family's door on Christmas.

The young men from Racine had been best friends since childhood. Their families attended the same church, and Bixler took photographs at Poelman's wedding.

Poelman, 21, a tank driver, joined the Army to get experience driving heavy equipment. Bixler, 21, had long dreamed of following in his grandfather's footsteps by serving in the military.

Poelman died June 5, 2005, during his second tour in Iraq when a bomb exploded near his vehicle. Bixler, who was a year or so younger, comforted Poelman's parents and served as one of his friend's pallbearers.

Bixler had intended to follow his friend into the military after high school graduation but been turned away because he had sclerosis in his back. When Poelman died, he sought a medical waiver and enlisted.

He was shot during a security operation and died Christmas Eve.

"I always told him that I named him Evan because he reminded me of heaven, and I thought he was a gift from God," Lisa Bixler said.

Sally Poelman considered Evan Bixler a second son. Before he left for Iraq, he asked her to look after his mother.

"You need to keep contact with my mom," he told her. "She'll need some encouraging."

Sally Poelman did that and sent him care packages.

"He became my other Army boy," she said.

The Bixlers plan to bury Evan Bixler at the Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Union Grove, where he once cared for Poelman's grave.

From the Gazette

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Evan A. Bixler slain by sniper