Phillip McNeill remembered by family

Army Sgt. Phillip D. McNeill, 22, had it planned out.

He'd return from Iraq in April and propose to his high school sweetheart, Cassandra Burress, of Coral Springs. The couple would celebrate with his parents.

Instead McNeill, who died in a roadside bombing Saturday, will return home in a flag-draped casket.

"He was my soul mate," said Burress, 21. "We had dated on and off since we were 15."

McNeill, who grew up in Sunrise, died when a bomb exploded close to his Humvee near Karmah, Iraq, the U.S. Department of Defense said. McNeill served as a combat medic in the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based in Fort Richardson, Alaska. Three other soldiers died and one was seriously injured.

McNeill volunteered last September for a second tour of duty in Iraq. His decision to go back stemmed from his deep-rooted patriotism and family tradition, said his uncle, Lewis McNeill, who served in the Air Force, as did Phillip McNeill's father and grandfather. McNeill's older brother Christopher is a former Marine who also served in Iraq.

"He wanted to return because he wanted to help the Iraqi people and he wanted to fight for America," Lewis McNeill said in a telephone interview from his home in Kentucky.

Born in Louisville, Ky., Phillip McNeill grew up in Owingsville, Ky., and Cincinnati before moving with his father to Sunrise. He attended Sawgrass Springs Middle School in Coral Springs and graduated from J.P. Taravella High School in 2002, said his father, David McNeill.

Friends and relatives described him as a voracious reader who adored classics, such as Crime and Punishment, as much as children's books like the Harry Potter series. He taught himself to play the guitar, reveled in Metallica music, and helped raise money for Kids in Distress Inc.

In January 2003, McNeill enlisted in the Army. He served six months in Iraq the next year. Then in 2005, McNeill was assigned to Fort Richardson.

"Phillip wanted to follow in his dad's footsteps," Lewis McNeill said.

Burress said the last time she saw McNeill was in the fall, shortly before he left for a yearlong deployment.

They talked of marriage and he told her he was not afraid of dying.

"I would always ask, `Why would you want to be there?' and he would say that Iraqis would come up and say, `Thank you for what you are doing.'

"I loved him with all my heart," Burress said.

Funeral services will be held in Owingsville, said Lewis McNeill. Details are pending.

From the Sentinel

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