Victim of weekend crash had earned Bronze Star in Iraq

ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY

In the quiet, wooded communities surrounding Chesapeake Square Mall, they built tree houses together. They went to Western Branch High School, graduated and continued to be inseparable.

In the process, one of them, Spc. James Curtiss Strickler, 22, became a war hero.

Late on Saturday night, two lifelong friends died together in a car wreck, not far from the James River Bridge. A third is recovering.

Strickler was about to leave the Army - he was a specialist in the 82nd Airborne - and was at home using his accumulated leave time.

A spokeswoman at Fort Bragg, N.C., confirmed he had won the Bronze Star for valor during a 14-month tour in Iraq. But she said she did not have the details about how he earned it.

Strickler might have preferred it that way. He hadn't told his family what had happened.

"We knew he'd won the Bronze Star," said Jareth Strickler, his only brother. "We asked him what he was getting the award for. He'd only say that he wasn't doing anything that any of his brothers in combat wouldn't have done for him."

The circumstances involving the accident are also not known.

State Police said James Strickler was driving a 2004 Acura just after 11 p.m. when the vehicle was involved in a head-on collision.

Strickler, on leave awaiting his release from the military, had attended the funeral of Quincy Gilliam Jr. the day before the wreck. He and Quincy Gilliam III, 23, who lived in Smithfield, were riding in the front seat. In the back was Daniel Ray Worsley, 24. Worsley also died in the wreck. Only Gilliam survived, and he had been drinking, police said. None of the men wore seatbelts.

State Police spokeswoman Sgt. Michelle Cotten said the Acura, which was traveling eastbound on Smiths Neck Road, struck a 2006 Toyota pickup. The two people inside - Earl McAdams, the driver, and his wife, Catherine - were wearing seatbelts and were less seriously hurt, she said.

Jareth Strickler said his brother loved nothing better than to come home and visit with his close buddies. He even lived in Smithfield with Gilliam a couple of summers while they were growing up, he said.

Gilliam and James Strickler graduated from Western Branch High School. Worsley went on to college, but they remained close.

In March 2004, Strickler joined the Army, his brother said. He went to jump school at Fort Benning, Ga., and was attached to the 82nd Airborne.

In Iraq, he was with the Second Battalion 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. O n the 3rd Brigade Combat team, he was a gunner, said Sgt. Shannon Wright, a spokeswoman for the 82nd Airborne. After spending 14 months in Iraq, he was due to have gotten out of the Army on Feb. 4.

Worsley, an animal lover who was the keeper of the pets when his friends went out of town, worked for Northrop Grumman in Newport News.

When they were friends as kids, said Joe Martin, they all joined together to help bury Midnight, Worsley's favorite black labrador.

"I just hope that I live half of my life being half the friend Dan was to others," Martin said. "The whole Western Branch community is hurting. They were just out there to provide support for Quincy."

Worsley, said Greg Dale, another friend, was a caring, competent person, with a lot of love for everybody he met.

It could be weeks before State Police complete their investigation, said Cotten, of the State Police. It could be three weeks or longer before toxicology reports are complete, she said.

Meanwhile, Strickler's family hopes to receive his Bronze Star soon.

While his brother was in Iraq, Jareth Strickler said, he had nightmares about somebody coming to their front door with news of his brother's death.

"He came through it all without one scratch," Jareth Strickler said. "He came back a stronger man. And now, a car crash took him.

"He was an honorable soldier, and he really loved people," he said. "He loved his friends, and he loved the men he served with."

Linda McNatt, (757) 222-5561, linda.mcnatt@pilotonline.com