Thursday, March 22, 2012

An El Dorado soldier has died after battling cancer.

Close friends and family surrounded Hal Neukirch, Jr., when the 39-year-old passed away early Thursday morning at his childhood home in El Dorado.

Cpl. Neukirch was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor in 2010.

Last summer, he told his wife he had one final wish.

"He had told her that he wanted to live his last days in El Dorado. He wanted to die here," said Tiffany Demo, soldier's sister.

His family reached out to the community last month for help to bring the dying soldier home from Fort Hood, Texas. He arrived in El Dorado via ambulance on Feb. 23.

"He knew that time was short. Any moment life could still escape him but he made it and had some amazing experiences," said Pastor Wade Graber of First Baptist Church in El Dorado.

Funeral arrangements are pending.