Army, SpecialistBased: Ft. Lewis, Wash.
14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: April 27, 2008
Camp Buehring, Kuwait
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Culver CityHigh School: Park View High School (South Hill, VA)
Burial: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.
"My brother was all about coming up, same as me."
-- Christopher Dix
Dix's fellow battalion members remember his sense of humor and upbeat spirit, no matter what the circumstances.
During down time, he could inevitably be found wearing headphones and flailing away to some silent rhythm in his bunk area, Capt. Cobey Warren recalled in Dix's eulogy.
"When I asked him why he danced so much, he just said with that big smile of his, 'That's how we roll in Cali,' " Warren said, according to remarks released by Ft. Lewis.
On April 27, Dix and his battalion were at Camp Boering, Kuwait, awaiting deployment to Iraq later that day.
Dix missed the 8 a.m. muster. The Army told his brother that his body was found two hours later, alone next to his service rifle...
At services in Dix's honor, his superiors said he had taken his own life.
[At the time of this article] Dix's death remains under investigation.
In the meantime, his family is still looking for answers.
"M-16s go off all the time," Stephanie said. "Who's to say he wasn't stomping bugs and it went off?"
"He wouldn't do something like that," Christopher said of suicide.
At a closed-casket ceremony in South Hill, Christopher said he insisted on making sure the body in the coffin belonged to his brother. Dix's head was wrapped, his brother said, but there on his right biceps was the tattoo of a chain with a dangling smiley face.
It was Timmy, all right.
Spc. William Timothy Dix, 32, was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in May.
In addition to his brother and sister, Dix is survived by his mother, Barbara Moore Dix, of Palmer Springs, Va., and father, Wilhelm Dewey Dix, of Florida.
Do read the entire LA Times article about Army Specialist William Timothy Dix here.
Find more at Arlington Cemetery and find messages and remembrances of
Specialist William T. Dix at Fallen Heroes.
Members of the Old Guard carry the casket of Army PFC William Timothy Dix to his final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery in May 2008. One of the duties of the Old Guard is to perform various honors during military burials at Arlington. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)
You will find this picture in the Washington Times
with the editorial
Army Specialist William Timothy Dix -- Requiescat In Pace
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