Sgt. William B. Meeuwsen; 2/10/81 – 11/23/05
Sergeant Bill Meeuwsen was truly a remarkable person. Bill was born in Mount Vernon, Washington, on February 10, 1981, and when he was 10 years old, he and his family found their way to southeast Texas and moved to Kingwood, Texas. He attended Kingwood High School and he graduated in 1999. He went on to Texas A&M University, and he and some of his friends enlisted in the United States Army as a result of the attacks of September 11, 2001. It was that sense of patriotism that led him to enter the United States Army. Bill was initially deployed with the renowned Band of Brothers to Camp Giant, near the Korean demilitarized zone in March of 2003. A year later, he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Bill was then deployed to Iraq just 3 months later, in October of 2005. Two months after that, on the day before Thanksgiving this year, Sergeant Bill Meeuwsen was one of two soldiers killed in action when his unit came under direct fire near Baghdad. He was the 186th Texan killed in Iraq since the war began. Bill is remembered as a person who loved his friends and family. He was a freedom fighter, he was an Aggie, a son of proud parents, a member of the band of brothers, an American warrior, and an inspiration to all patriots. His patriotism and heroism and his life will not be forgotten. He paid for freedom with his life. He paid for our safety with his blood, and he paid for our future years with his youth.