The Department of Defense has announced the death of an airman who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom and a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Tonight we remember the life and honor the service of 1st Lt. Joseph D. Helton, 24, of Monroe, Georgia and Capt. Joshua S. Meadows, 30, of Bastrop, Texas.
Their mission is ended and they have earned their rest.
Please take a few minutes to join us in paying tribute to these two men who gave their all in the service of our country.
sources: Air Force Times, Athens Banner Herald, St Petersburg Times
Joseph D. Helton died near Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.
Helton grew up in a military family. Both of his grandfathers served. His father and three of his uncles were in the Army and his mom served in the Navy. When he was little, his mother said, he drew battleships and fighter jets.
He was an outstanding athlete at Monroe Area Comprehensive High School—he ran cross country and was an all-league soccer player. Helton also commanded the Junior ROTC unit at his high school. He graduated in 2003 with a 4.2 GPA and was ranked fifth in his class.
He turned down scholarships to other universities to attend the Air Force Academy, even though he was concerned about being so far away from his family. He had three sisters. His parents were divorced. While considering the Academy in high school, Joe Helton told his mother he thought Colorado was too far away. "He felt like he had to stay around home and take care of the girls and me," his mother, Jiffy Helton, said. "He felt like he was the man of the house." She encouraged him to go. "I told him," she said, "he had a life to lead."
Helton was an exceptional student at the Air Force Academy: ranked in the top ten percent of his class in academics, athletics, and leadership ability, and shared command of cadet Squadron 19. Helton graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2007.
He was deployed from the 6th Security Forces Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. This was his first tour in Iraq; he volunteered to go. He had recently volunteered to extend his deployment in Iraq, where he was very dedicated to his work of training Iraqi police officers. He was trying to learn Arabic, and wrote a blogpost earlier this year that the Iraqis he met were "just like us on a basic, human level."
His mother said her son helped out around the house with cooking and cleaning, and had "a quiet, commanding presence... If someone walked into the room and had a question, nine times out of 10 he’d be the person they would approach... He just looked like he knew the answers."
Helton was laid-back, funny, smart and easy to get along with. He was a football fan and rooted for the Atlanta Falcons. He liked the TV show The Office and the movie The Shawshank Redemption. He made delicious baklava.
1st Lt. Helton was the first security forces officer killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. All of the other seven security forces airmen who died in these wars were enlisted men; Helton is the first officer. He is the eleventh Air Force Academy graduate killed while serving in Iraq, and the first serviceman from the Athens, Georgia area lost in Iraq or Afghanistan in more than a year.
Helton would have celebrated his 25th birthday later this month, was scheduled to come home for Thanksgiving, and his tour was set to end in January 2010.
Joseph D. Helton is on the Patriot Guard Watch list.
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sources: Elgin Texas Courier, Austin American Statesman, LA Times, MarineChat.com, Marine Corps Times, KXAN-TV
Joshua S. Meadows was assigned to 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
He died while supporting combat operations in the western Afghanistan province of Farah, near the Iranian border, just weeks before he was scheduled to come home to his wife who is pregnant with their first child.
Public Library director Sandy Ott was one of many friends and family members in Elgin, Texas who have known Joshua Meadows since he was very young. Ott's children went to kindergarten and first grade with Meadows. She said she remembers seeing Meadows as a boy, riding in a green pickup and wrestling with his late father, Robert. Jeff Carter, president at Prosperity Bank in Elgin has known the Meadows family since Joshua was five years old. Carter said Meadows was deeply committed to his life as a Marine: "Some people join the military, and it's just a job," Carter said. "But he approached it like it was his destiny. He really felt a sincere duty to serve the country." Frank Gonzales, who owns a haircutting business on Main Street in Elgin, cut Meadows' hair all through Meadows' high school years. "His daddy was a Marine," Gonzales said, "and he followed him in his footsteps."
Meadows became an Eagle Scout and joined the U.S. Marine Corps shortly before graduating from Elgin High School in May 1997. After graduation he reported to boot camp in San Diego and was on active duty there through December. He served with a reserve unit in Austin while studying at Texas Tech University.
After he earned his business degree from Texas Tech, he was commissioned as an officer. He attended a two-year program in flight school and during that time was stationed in Pensacola, Florida and Corpus Christi. Following flight school, Meadows was stationed at Camp Pendleton for more than five years and flew Huey helicopters. During an earlier deployment with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton, he was part of an anti-piracy mission in the Persian Gulf region. Late last year Captain Meadows was assigned to a special forces team unrelated to flying.
Captain Meadows was described as a man's man and a Marine's Marine -- "No better friend, no worse enemy" -- and the kind of person everyone should strive to be. Meadows was also a devout Christian known for his sincere smile. He had planned to return home and raise cattle after his military career was over.
Another close family friend, Kay Silkerson, said when she first heard of Meadows' death she thought about something his late father, Robert Meadows, used to do: "Robert had a habit of taking his knuckle and greeting the kids, kind of doing a little knock on the head," said Silkerson, "I could just see him greeting Josh in heaven with that little head knock and saying, 'glad you're here, son.'" Sandy Ott also mentioned Meadows being reunited with his late father: "Joshua and Robert are probably up in heaven now knocking each other in the head and playing."
Friends of the Meadows family asked all those who join them in honoring Joshua's life to display flags at half-mast and/or red, white and blue ribbons, especially on the main roads. As a result, American flags hung outside every building on Elgin's Main Street yesterday in his honor. And a few miles outside town, at the house of Meadow's mother, local Boy Scouts lined the long paved road leading to her residence with small American flags.
Joshua Meadows is survived by his mother Jan, his sister Erin, and his wife Angela. Meadows died just two (!) weeks before he was scheduled to return home. His wife Angela was waiting for his return to tell him whether the baby she is carrying is a boy or a girl. Library director Sandy Ott wiped away tears as she thought about the baby. "He won't get to see his child grow up," Ott said.
The Patriot Guard Riders have confirmed that they will ride in honor of Captain Meadows. Semper Fi!
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