Published: October 26, 2008 11:15 pm      

Friend remembers airman who died in Iraq

As the military examines what caused a Stoystown airman to collapse on the floor at his Iraq base, Staff Sgt. Brian Paul Hause, 29, is being remembered as a funny, animal-loving adventurer. Hause was found unconscious Thursday at Balad Air Base and rushed to the hospital, where he died.

Josh Johnson, 29, of Richland Township, attended school with Hause at Johnstown Christian School in Hollsopple.

They graduated in 1998.

“I met him the first day of 10th grade,” Johnson said Sunday. “The first morning I went to school, he walked up to me, put his arm around me, and said, ‘Hi, I’m Brian, and you’re going to be my new best friend.’ ”

They were best buddies ever since.

“He was like a big tough guy, but at the same time he was a marshmallow on the inside,” Johnson said.

Hause’s family in Stoystown – parents John and Kathy Hause – did not return a phone call for this story.

Johnson said family members told him that an autopsy was being conducted.

The Defense Department said he died of noncombat medical causes.

His yearbook entry said he loved guitar, reading and writing poetry. More recently, he took up photography and watched the sun come up with Johnson as they snapped pictures.

Poignantly, he was remembered in the yearbook with the phrase, “Never take a day for granted.”

“He was always up for adventure, staying up all night,” recalled Johnson, a substitute teacher in the Conemaugh Valley School District.

“We went out for a drive in a blizzard for kicks, somewhere out in the mountains around Stoystown,” Johnson said.

“My car got stuck in a ditch, a little stream. He said don’t worry about it. He just became like the Incredible Hulk, errrr!, and he literally lifted my car out of the ditch.”

Hause, who was stocky anyway, would go on to study mixed martial arts.

Yet Hause also had a sensitive side.

When he came home on leave, he would spend every second he could with friends and family.

“He was full of love for everybody and always expressed that,” said Johnson, who added that Hause always was quick to pray with you. “And he loved America.”

A hunter and lover of the outdoors, Hause recently bought a horse for his home in South Carolina and had a variety of pets through the years.

“We used to watch him feed his snake. That was always fun,” his friend recalled.

“Brian was a very energetic and lively person. He was just that one kid in the class who could make everybody laugh all day long.”

Hause was assigned to the 20th Equipment Maintenance Squadron, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.

Hause is the ninth serviceman from Greater Johnstown to have died in Iraq.

In addition to his parents, Hause is survived by two young children, Lexie and Cody, of South Carolina, and three older brothers.

Johnson said the body is expected to be returned by Wednesday evening for viewing and a funeral to be held by week’s end.