Samuel D. Stone
|
| Age: |
|
20 |
| Hometown: |
Port Orchard , Washington |
| Date of Death: |
5/30/09 |
| Incident Location: |
Tallil, Iraq |
| Branch of Military: |
|
Army |
| Rank: |
Sgt |
| Unit: |
C company, 1st Battalion, 303 Calvary |
| Unit's Base: |
Bremerton, Wash |
|
The entire Washington National Guard is deeply saddened by the loss of Spc. Stone,” said Maj. Gen. Timothy J. Lowenberg, the adjutant general. “The memory of his service and dedication will live on with our citizen soldiers and airmen forever. We stand firm in support of the Stone family and will do all we can to assist them during this difficult time.”
Nancy Stone named her youngest child after the prophet Samuel because, as in the Bible, she prayed to God for a son and, in return, vowed to devote him to the Lord. “I didn’t expect to have to give him back (to God) this soon,” said Nancy, of Port Orchard.
Samuel, 20, was born in Bremerton and grew up on Long Lake Road. The youngest of four children — following Todd, Jay and Sara — he attended Hidden Creek Elementary, Marcus Whitman Junior High and spent a year at South Kitsap High. “He was brilliant. Very, very smart,” Nancy said. “But he didn’t do education the way they did.”
Samuel joined the Job Corps near White Swan in Yakima County and completed his final two years of high school in six months, graduating from Wellpinit-Fort Semco High in 2006. He also trained in carpentry while there and was working in Seattle as an apprentice carpenter before shipping out to Iraq. “He liked carpentry, but he wanted to be an architect and that’s why he joined the military, so he would be able to have the education paid for,” his mother said.
Samuel joined the Army National Guard in March 2007 and maintained helicopters for the 66th Theater Aviation Command in Tacoma. The unit loaned him to the Bremerton-based 303rd Cavalry for deployment to Iraq where he was based in Tallil.
Samuel was a voracious reader, enjoyed playing Dungeons & Dragons, and fishing and hunting with his father, Stephen. He named his dog Ayla after a character in the Jean Auel novel “The Clan of the Cave Bear.” He had an especially soft spot for animals.
“He was very, very, very private about his personal self, but he never met a stranger,”