Guardsman from New Castle dies in his sleep

The soldier had been in Iraq since March.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A Pennsylvania National Guardsman from New Castle, Pa., apparently died in his sleep in his barracks near Baghdad on Saturday, according to Pennsylvania National Guard officials.
Army Spc. Clifford L. Moxley Jr., 51, was found dead in his bed of apparent natural causes, Lt. Col. Chris Cleaver said.
Moxley, who served in the Army from 1981 to 1987, was a member of the 1st Battalion, 107th Field Artillery, and was a cook for Company C of the 2/103rd Armor near Baghdad. He joined the Pennsylvania National Guard in 1991, mobilized at Fort Dix in January and had been in Iraq since March.
"Clifford was a solider everyone looked up to, especially the younger soldiers," said battalion commander Lt. Col. Grey Berrier. "He always worked very hard behind the scenes getting things done. He was a true gentleman."
Family
Moxley is survived by his wife, Jean, two daughters, Tonia and Christina, and a son, Clifford III, and eight grandchildren. His wife said that when military officials came to notify the family, she knew immediately that he was dead.
"I said 'Who is it?' ... and when they said 'The Army,' I didn't have to hear nothing more -- I started screaming," Jean Moxley told KDKA-TV."
Moxley said her husband was proud of his Army career and dedicated to it -- but he was also ready for it to end. He called her every week, and, the last time they talked, said he planned to leave the service after returning home from Iraq, she said.
"I've never been alone," Moxley said. "Now, after 29 years, I have to be alone."
Funeral arrangements were pending the return of Clifford Moxley's remains, which will take about a week, his family said.
Third to die
Moxley is at least the third member of the 107th Field Artillery to die in Iraq.
Spc. Carl F. Curran II, 22, of Union City, and Spc. Mark J. Kasecky, 20, of McKees Rocks, died May 16 when an explosive lashed to a bridge they were crossing near Fallujah, Iraq, blew up and flipped their Humvee into a canal where they both drowned, officials said.
Their deaths were the first time since World War II that soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 107th Field Artillery, had been killed in action.
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