Iraqi War
Soldier Obituaries
Greenville News, The (SC) - December 26, 2003 Spc. Rian Christopher Ferguson, 22, of 14 Fairford
Circle, died Dec. 14, 2003, while serving active military duty in
Iraq. Born in Greenville County, he was the son
of Jimmy L. and Claudette Livingston Ferguson. He attended
Greenville County Schools, and he graduated from Riverside High
School, Class of 2000. Following graduation, he enlisted in the
United States Army, completing basic training at Fort Leonard Wood,
Mo. He was assigned to Fort Carson, Colo., before being deployed to
Iraq. Survivors: Father, Jimmy L. Ferguson
mother, Claudette Livingston Ferguson brother, Reginald A. Ferguson
of Taylors and paternal grandfather, Robert A. Ferguson of Taylors.
Funeral services will be held Saturday,
Dec. 27, 2003, at 1 p.m. at St. Mark United Methodist Church,
Taylors, S.C., with burial and full military rites at Aiken Chapel
Baptist Church, Taylors. Remains will be placed in the church at
noon. Times and Democrat, The (Orangeburg, SC) - December
28, 2003 Spc. Rian Ferguson, 22, died of chest
trauma after he was thrown from a vehicle when it hit a bump on Dec.
14, the Army said. Ferguson, who was based in Fort Carson, Colo.,
was taken to a nearby post and treated by the 945th Forward Surgical
Team, but could not be saved, the Army said. About 700 people came to the service at
St. Mark Methodist Church to mourn Ferguson, The Greenville News
said. Ferguson's cousin, Lila Russell Durham,
remembered him as "a unique little boy. You could see something
different in him," she said. Although Ferguson died at a young age,
"He bloomed in his short 22 years," Durham said. Most who spoke remembered Ferguson as a
jovial and kind person. Rev. Larry Anderson, of Neimiah
Ministries of Restoration, said Ferguson was raised well by his
parents and was very respectful toward others. "The seed they
planted in him bore fruit as a grown man," he said. Tabbatha Smith, a Sunday school teacher,
recalled Ferguson's spirited personality and how he loved to talk.
"He'd always give you a long answer," she said. Rev. W.O. Harrison Sr., pastor of Aiken
Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, gave the eulogy and said
Ferguson's lived a life of service to his community and his country.
Rev. Harrison said when Ferguson learned he was headed to Iraq, he
asked for a Bible to take with him. "He sent back for his Bible. To me the
Bible was a map, a compass," Rev. Harrison said. "It was his way of
touching homeplate." Ferguson's flag-draped casket was brought
to the nearby Aiken Chapel cemetery. Inscriptions of the
posthumously awarded Medal of Honor and Medal of Commendation were
read to the attendees. "Taps" was played and fellow soldiers gave
Ferguson a six-gun salute. Army Chaplain James Ellison handed the
folded flag to Ferguson's parents, calling the man's death a
"hallowed tragedy." Reginald Ferguson, the slain soldier's
older brother, said the turnout and support showed how special his
brother was. "I am very proud of him," he said. "He served his
country, and he served it well." EASLEY -- U.S. Army Capt. Kimberly Hampton, 27,
daughter of Dale and Ann Lewis Hampton, of 601 Shadow Oaks Drive,
died Friday, Jan. 2, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq. Born in Greenville, S.C., she was a 1994 graduate of
Easley High School and was a 1998 graduate of Presbyterian College.
She was a helicopter pilot with the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne
Division, 1-17th Cavalry. In addition to her parents, she is survived by her
grandparents, the Rev. and Mrs. W.A. Hampton, of Easley, and by her
fiance, William P. Braman, of Clarksville, Tenn. Funeral services will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at
Rock Springs Baptist Church, Easley, conducted by Dr. John Griffith
and the Rev. Dr. David Gallamore. Interment with full military
honors will follow at Robinson Memorial Gardens, 1425 Powdersville
Road, Easley, conducted by U.S. Army chaplain Maj. Marvin Luckie.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m.
Friday at Robinson Funeral Home-Powdersville Road. Memorials may be made to Armed Forces Memorial,
Presbyterian College, Alumni Director, Attn: Randy Randall, 503 S.
Broad St., Clinton, SC 29325. The family is at the home of her parents: Dale and Ann
Hampton, 601 Shadow Oaks Drive, Easley, S.C. Robinson Funeral Home-Powdersville Road is assisting
the family with arrangements. Tony Jones knew perseverance. When the Sumter native
was diagnosed with a heart murmur as a child, he resolutely kept on
believing in his dream of becoming a soldier. When his family moved away from
the Georgia town where he admired a pretty girl in the church choir,
he tracked her down years later. He outgrew the heart murmur by the
time he enlisted in the Army at age 18. And he wed the Georgia girl
and started a family with her. His widow wants people to remember
him as a loving father and husband. Army Sgt. Anthony G. Jones, 25,
died Tuesday in Baghdad in a hostile attack. He was a assigned to
the 104th Transportation Company, 36th Engineer Group, 3rd Infantry
Division (Mechanized) out of Fort Benning, Ga. He is survived by his widow, Kelly
Jones; his 2-year-old son, Blair; his 1-month-old son, Aaron; his
sister, Amanda Howard of Pickens; and his parents, Glenn and Sandra
Jones of Hartsville. "The military was something he
lived and breathed since he was 5 years old," Howard said. "I guess
just for the love of the country. Granted, we've had a lot of
military in our family, but it was never anything that was pushed on
him." Tony and Kelly Jones' relationship
reads like romance novel. They met as children. His father
was a traveling minister who had stopped for a stay at her Georgia
church. "I was in the choir," Kelly Jones
recalled. "I would poke my head around and look at him, and he would
be looking at me, and we'd pretend not to be looking at each other."
Her mind is stamped with the dates
of each milestone of their courtship. He moved away to Ohio when they
were about 16, but he tracked her down a couple years later when she
was starting nursing school at the Medical College of Georgia in
Augusta. As they walked to the car the
evening they were reunited, he picked her up and said, "I'm here to
sweep you off your feet." They were engaged Jan. 18, 2001,
and planned to marry in May 2002 - after she graduated. But after Sept. 11, they worried
that Tony Jones' call to duty might block their wedding plans. The
couple eloped instead, and planned to renew their vows so Kelly
Jones could wear the wedding dress she couldn't wear when they
eloped. He was assigned this year to go to
Germany to train to be a scout, but instead was sent for a third
tour in Iraq in February. He managed to return three months
later, showing up in the hospital just hours after his second son,
Aaron, was born May 12. But he returned to Iraq on May 28.
As a child, Tony Jones exhausted
the public libraries of each town he lived in. His family says he
was imaginative. He concocted costumes of his favorite characters
from his books, and carried out their personas, said his father,
Glenn Jones. His older sister played a big part
in his life, too. "There was no greater love in his
life than his sister till he got married," Glenn Jones said. "They
never fought, and he stuck to her like glue." Kelly Jones wants her memories of
her husband to center on the good things about his life and not the
tragic circumstances of his death. "I was in the car, and I told God
that I forgive the people for the wrong they did because I don't
want to concern my life with anger toward them. "I just prayed that he would touch
their hearts and let them know that the man they killed was an
incredible father and an incredible husband and an incredible
soldier and man." Tony Jones will be buried in
Sumter. Funeral arrangements are pending.
GREENVILLE (AP) - A father of four on his third tour
of duty in Iraq has been killed, the soldier's wife says. Sgt. Adrian J. Lewis, 30, of Mauldin died Wednesday.
"This is so devastating," she said. "He was more than my husband. He
was my friend." Adrian Lewis died in Ramadi of wounds suffered when
his unit fought enemy forces using small arms fire during combat
operations, according to a news release from the Defense Department.
Lewis was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor
Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division at Fort
Stewart, Ga. Sonji Adams, the soldier's aunt, said she was with
Amanda Lewis when the military came to tell the family he had died.
"She said she didn't believe it," Adams said. "She said she wouldn't
believe it until she saw his body." Amanda Lewis said her husband's two previous tours of
duty each lasted a year. He left Jan. 15 and was due home for two
weeks' leave in July, she said. "We were going to go on a cruise," she said. "Neither
of us had ever been on one." GREENVILLE - A South Carolina woman with ties to York
and Chester counties was one of two Fort Hood, Texas-based soldiers
who were killed by enemy fire in Iraq last week, the Defense
Department said. Spc. Zandra T. Worthy-Walker, 28, of Greenville and
formerly of Chester County, was killed with Sgt. Princess C.
Samuels, 22, of Mitchellville, Md., on Wednesday in Taji, Iraq,
according to a news release from the Defense Department. Worthy-Walker was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 227th
Aviation Regiment, 1st Aviation Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry
Division. She fueled helicopters and was serving her second tour
with the Army, one of her sisters said Monday. "She'd be the one clapping her hands and cheering them
on when they came in," Worthy-Walker's oldest sister, Charlita
Worthy, said by telephone from their mother's Greenville home. Worthy-Walker, who was called "Nicey," went to Chester
schools through sixth grade and attended Mount Hopewell Baptist
Church between Bullock Creek and Sharon in York County, Worthy said.
The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Mount Hopewell, where
Worthy-Walker will be buried next to her youngest sister, Katrina,
who died in June at age 22 from a brain tumor. "They were real close," Worthy said, adding that
Worthy-Walker came home for Katrina's funeral. "Out of sadness, came
joy. If we hadn't been together then, it would have been more than a
year since we saw each other." The family of five girls grew up until the early 1990s
in Thomson Quarters, also known as Cross Road Community, in Chester
County, Worthy said. Worthy-Walker and her twin sister, Yolanda
Worthy-Weathersby, graduated from Woodmont High School in 1997 and
joined the Army during their second year at South Carolina State
University, Charlita Worthy said. Yolanda Worthy-Weathersby, who was serving in Kuwait
when she learned of her twin sister's death, has returned home, said
Charlita Worthy, 31. "We were upset they decided to leave college, but it's
something that they wanted to do," said Worthy. Worthy-Walker met her husband while they were both in
the military, and he has been serving as a civilian in Kuwait,
Charlita Worthy said. She was a very bright, energetic girl, said the Rev.
W.T. "Dub" Massey of Rock Hill, who once was pastor at Mount
Hopewell. "They were a close-knit family - a friendly, cheerful
bunch," said Massey. "We just had a great time working with them."
Worthy said her sister re-enlisted after being out a
year because she missed the military. The family plans a memorial service on Thursday in
Greenville, followed by the funeral Friday. "It's hard. We're trying to keep busy to keep our mind
off it," Worthy said. "Right now, we need a lot of prayer." Worthy-Walker is the fourth South Carolina woman to
die in the war in Iraq, according to an Associated Press database of
casualty records released by the U.S. military. Herald City Editor Sula Pettibon contributed to this
story from The Associated Press.
Greenville County, South Carolina
Genealogy Trails
Spc. Rian Christopher Ferguson
Spc. Rian Ferguson: Taylors
soldier honored at funeral
Greenville News, The (SC) - January 8, 2004
Capt. Kimberly Hampton, Army helicopter pilot
State, The (Columbia, SC) -
June 18, 2005
Sgt. Anthony G.
Jones
SUMTER NATIVE WAS DEVOTED FAMILY MAN
Daily
Journal-Messenger (Seneca, SC) - March 27,
2007
Sgt. Adrian J.
Lewis
Upstate soldier killed in Iraq
Herald, The (Rock Hill, SC) - August 21, 2007
Spc. Zandra T. Worthy-Walker
S.C. soldier killed in Iraq
to have local burial
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