9/11 touched him like it touched everybody. When you become 18 and you're out of school, I think your eyes open to the world, and you ask yourself, 'What am I going to do with my life?'
— Kris Brattain, brother
The fall before he died, Brattain married his high school sweetheart on the sand in Laguna Beach. In January, he shipped off to Iraq. Brattain was a wilderness buff. "He did everything full-bore or nothing," his brother said.

2 memories of Joel

Joel was a fine young man who had found his way in life. I recall his mother's worry when Joel enlisted in the Army, but she knew that it was a decision made by her son who was now a grown man.

In honored glory, Joel joins his grandfather, who was killed in the Vietnam War- as American heroes.

— Tony Cordero
May 26, 2008 at 2:11 p.m.

You are not forgotten...

— Jacques Billeaudeaux
June 27, 2008 at 2:03 p.m.

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