The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Jeffrey A. Williams, 20, of Warrenville, Ill., died on Sept. 5, 2005, in Tal Afar, Iraq, where an improvised explosive device detonated near his combat patrol. Williams was assigned to the Support Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo.
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The following article on Spc. Williams is from the Colorado Springs Gazette:
3rd ACR medic killed in Tal Afar blast
By R. SCOTT RAPPOLD THE GAZETTE
Spc. Jeffrey A. Williams was sick of the war, sick of Iraq, but he did his job.
Between patching up battered U.S. soldiers, the combat medic with Fort Carson’s 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment confided in his mother, Sandra Smith. He told her how much he looked forward to leaving in February.
“He said they were at war and he was living in hell,” she said. “He was supportive of (the mission), but he got tired of that life over there.”
Now he is coming home.
Williams, 20, of Warrenville, Ill., was killed Monday in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, an insurgent hotbed near the Syrian border, when an improvised bomb exploded near his patrol, the Army said Thursday.
He was the 27th soldier from the 3rd ACR to be killed since the unit went to Iraq in March. Fort Carson has now lost 144 soldiers since the war began.
His mother, who lives in Mansfield, Texas, said Williams knew early in life that he wanted to join the military. She worked on military bases when he was growing up, and several family members were in the Air Force.
He’d been in Air Force ROTC in high school, but he later decided to join the Army.
“He said the Army was for stronger men and if you want the easy life, join the Air Force,” she said.
He arrived at Fort Carson in January 2004. He was taking medical classes through a correspondence course and hoped eventually to attend medical school to be a cardiologist. He was ambivalent about going to Iraq.
“He had mixed feelings, but he had a job to do and he told me he’d be back,” she said. “He told me, ‘Don’t worry; every- thing will be okay.’”
He was looking forward to marrying his fiancee, Stacey Kuhn, a college student in Indiana, and starting a family. He planned to go to college full time after leaving the Army.
“When he finished college, he was going to come home and give me five grandchildren,” Smith said. “I guess that’s not going to happen now.”
He will be missed, family members said.
“He was fun to be around,” said his younger brother, Jermain Williams, 18, also of Texas. “He was just what every younger brother should have. He always helped me through hard times I had
Thank You Jeffrey!! I will not forget and remind others of you.
Iraq War Heroes
Don't Let The Memory Of Them Drift Away
www.IraqWarHeroes.org
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