KILLED  IN  ACTION – IRAQ

William Randolph Watkins III was born December 17, 1965 in South Boston, Virginia.  Following graduation in 1984 from high school he entered the U.S. Naval Academy, studied aeronautical engineering, and was a 1989 graduate.  For the next 12-years he served in the Navy as a Naval Flight Officer in the A-6E Intruder and F-14A Tomcat.  In May 1998 he married his wife, Melissa, who was serving in the U.S. Air Force.  In 2001 Watkins left the Navy to enlist as a Major in the U.S. Air Force so he could be near his wife who was serving as an Intelligence Officer at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina.  While serving in the Navy, Watkins acquired the call sign of “Salty,” a nickname that carried on during his service in the Air Force.

On April 7, 2003, Watkins was the weapons systems officer in an F-15E Strike Eagle flying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  The aircraft was piloted by Captain Eric Das of Amarillo, Texas, and they flew from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to perform a critical interdiction mission, attacking targets near Tikrit, Iraq.  At approximately 2:30am their aircraft was downed.  After the crash, partial remains of Watkins were returned to the U.S. and were buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in South Boston, Virginia.  Later, additional human remains were discovered at the crash site and were identified as additional Watkins remains.  With the permission of his family the newly discovered remains were laid to rest in a single casket, in a single grave, at Arlington National  Cemetery on August 28, 2003 with the remains of CAPT Eric Bas, USAF.  Indeed, LTCOL William Randolph Watkins III is buried in two places, three if you count the crash site in Iraq.  He was posthumously promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

LTCOL Watkins was survived by his pregnant wife and infant eleven-month-old son.  Family members have reported that flying was his passion and that he planned to make the military his career.  His sister said, “He wanted to fly as long as I can remember.  There aren’t many people who knew what they wanted to do with their life when they were five.  My brother did.”

                               ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)