Soldiers Dies Hours After Hearing Newborn's Voice

Soldiers Dies Hours After Hearing Newborn's Voice

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. - The birth of a baby boy turned out to be the best and worst moment in a Hendersonville woman's life.

Earlier this month, Leslie Reeves, wife of a soldier who served in Iraq, delivered Joshua Jackson Reeves in a Nashville hospital.

"The timing and everything is a blessing," Reeves said. "He's a miracle."

Hours after her husband Spc. Joshua Reeves learned about his son's birth, he died.

"I told him how much he weighed, what he looked like, that I looked just like him," Reeves recalled their telephone conversation while she was still in the delivery room.

"He heard him cry. He got to say hi to him."

He planned on calling again, but 10 hours after hanging up, Reeves said, soldiers came to the hospital to tell her an explosion killed her husband in Bagdad.

"I wish he could hold him. There are a lot of things I wish I could say to him," she said,

Reeves said she's relied on her husband's strength to endure the past 12 days.

"You can either lay down and die or you can keep going and I know that Josh would not want me to lay down and die," she said. "I want to keep going for him."

After his death, Joshua Reeves received several medals including a Purple Heart medal and a Bronze Star. He was also promoted to corporal.

A military funeral was held in Georgia. A memorial service will be held Thursday in Hendersonville