'He was everybody's friend': Michigan soldier, 23, makes his final trip home

GRAND HAVEN — A family is remembering their son, grandson and brother — 23-year-old Braden Peltier — shot last week in Colorado, where he was stationed in the U.S. Army.

“As a father, you could not ask for a more amazing young man,” said Peltier's father, Jay, who lives in Grand Haven.

Jay said there was a 175-mile procession from his son’s body arriving in Detroit to the funeral home in Bay City. He described it as “bittersweet” and “sad, but beautiful.”

“It didn’t take away the pain, but it slowed down some of the hurt and it was really beautiful,” Jay said. “My son wanted nothing more than to be a soldier and to serve his country.”

Braden grew up living with his mother in Bay City, but spent summers, holiday breaks and weekends with his dad in Grand Haven. He also spent time with his grandfather, Howie Glass, Jay’s father-in-law. Jay said, in their family, they disregard the extra titles and lack of blood relation. Glass is considered dad and grandpa.

“We used to call him ‘Eddie Haskell,’” Glass said of Braden with a laugh, referencing the 1950s sitcom “Leave it to Beaver’’ character played by actor Ken Osmond. “He was everybody’s friend.”

Glass fondly remembered a cabin he built for the grandkids in Hesperia based off a drawing of Braden’s.

“He just absolutely loved it up there,” Glass said, adding Braden even slept in the handmade fort and built a lean-to in the woods. “He had Army in his blood then already.”

Growing up, Glass said he taught his grandson how to drive a four-wheeler, and, along with Jay, how to shoot. Braden went on to serve in the Specialist Artillery Branch of the Army.

“We hunted together, fished together,” Glass said. “We spent a lot of time on Nichols Lake in a canoe just the two of us, we’d make a day out of it.”

Jay said he and Braden would go on “wilderness trips” together.

“We canoed to the mouth of Lake Michigan one summer in three different places,” Jay remembered. “One time we carried a canoe down to the Lake of the Clouds and went fishing for smallmouth bass — it was an epic trip.”

“He was just like me — he loved the woods,” Jay said. “We’re outdoorsmen — we camp, we hunt, we fish.”

Each summer, Braden did the typical “kid things,” Jay said, long boarding, going to the beach and visiting the local Pronto Pups and Dairy Treat.

“Since he was little he used to set up green little Army men around our house and have battles with them,” Kathy-jo Peltier, Jay’s wife, said. “He always said, ‘I want to do this when I grow up.’”

Braden took pride in following in the footsteps of other veterans in the family. Jay said Braden’s great-grandfather served in World War II, his grandfather served in the Vietnam War, his stepfather served and was wounded in Iraq, and Glass was in the Army reserves.

“I kind of knew what he was going through,” Glass said. “We talked about that, too. He loved guns and that’s why he was in the artillery and with the big guns."

“He was a good kid and that’s how he died, too, helping somebody,” Glass said.

According to an article from ABC-12 News, Braden died in a shooting around 3:45 a.m. March 26 in Colorado Springs. Peltier and another man sustained gunshot wounds and were rushed to a local hospital, where Peltier was pronounced dead. Peltier was stationed at Fort Carson, which is located south of Colorado Springs.

“I want them to catch who did that to my son,” Jay said.

Braden called his grandpa and grandma “out of the blue,” Glass said, just days before he died to check on them after they both went through medical issues.

“He was happy, jolly,” Glass said. “I didn’t really realize I was an idol in his life and I meant that much to him. He did to me, I know that. He was a special kid.”

Jay and Kathy-jo Peltier said Braden was special in more ways than one, growing up taking care of his sister, Riley-jo Peltier, who has special needs.

“He was our daughter’s hero that she lost,” Kathy-jo said. “They had a very close relationship. He used to give her breathing treatments and feeding tubes. He was a very big protector.”

Kathy-jo, who came into Braden’s life when he was 3, remembered Braden’s thoughtfulness for others.

“He is the sweetest boy that anybody could ever meet, he had the biggest heart,” she said. “His hugs were just amazing. He was all about family and his friends. He just wanted everybody to be happy.”

In 2020, Braden married his wife, Pagge, and they had a son, Caycee, who is now 2.

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Jay and Kathy-jo said they were happily surprised to see so much support when their son’s body was flown into Detroit from Colorado.

“I think we all needed to see that,” Kathy-jo said of the many area police and fire departments, veterans, service members and community members that took over the highway as Braden’s casket was transported to his hometown. “It gave us the pride that we knew we had in him.”

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: 'He was everybody's friend': Michigan soldier, 23, makes his final trip home