KINGSTON -- Army Sgt. Clint Williams was never far from the action,
wherever that was.
The same fearless personality that
inspired friends and made him class
president also drove Williams to en
list for the military even as the Iraq
War was beginning, friends and family said Friday. He even volunteered
for dangerous duty on raids rather
than sit and wait for battle, despite
being wounded only a few months
ago.
"He wasn't afraid to step
out and involve himself in
what was going on," his
brother, Duron Williams,
said from the family's home
in Marshall County. "He
was quite a brother."
Clint Williams was killed
Wednesday by a roadside
bomb in Baghdad, according to reports. The family
was notified of his death
Thursday.
He was 24 years old.
Williams, whose family
lives in the Cryerville community of southern Oklahoma, graduated from Kingston schools in 2001, friends
said. He played baseball,
loved hunting and horseshoes, and was president of
his high school class.
"He was really outgoing,"
another friend, Shasta Carter, recalled. "He loved to
have fun, but nothing too
crazy."
Carter remembered outings along Middle Beach at
Lake Texoma, playing
horseshoes. Williams never
lacked for company.
"He had a ton of friends,"
she said.
In April 2003, he decided
to join the Army with no
hesitation despite the Iraq
invasion one month earlier,
his brother said.
"He believed it was right,"
Duron Williams noted.
Clint Williams' first tour
of duty ended fairly uneventfully, Duron said. Last year,
he was stationed at Fort
Hood, Texas, and then sent
to Iraq again around November.
" 'It's my job'," Duron remembered his brother saying about a second tour of
duty.
In June, Williams was seriously wounded but held
his ground after a bomb exploded in a gun battle near
Hawr Rajab south of Baghdad, according to reports.
The explosion killed a fellow
soldier, but Williams --
wounded in the legs and
one hand -- kept firing on
the enemy position and ran
more than 300 meters to
alert a gun truck to the battle, according to an e-mail
by Army Capt. Jon Bodenhammer, reprinted in the
Madill Record newspaper.
"I marvel every day at the
work ethic, motivation, skill
and bravery of these men,"
Bodenhammer wrote.
Duron Williams said his
brother still had not fully recovered from the effects of
those wounds by the last
time they talked. Clint Williams, however, already had
packed many of his belongings and was just about to
mail them to his brother before his last duties.
"He was that close to
coming home," Duron said,
adding Clint was due home
before the end of the year.
Clint Williams also leaves
behind his father, Lavoyed
Williams of Cryerville; mother, Marci Sprouse, of Arlington, Texas; and an older sister, Jessica Williams, who
also lives in Arlington.
"He was an all-around
honest, super guy," Duron
Williams said. "It's hard to
put into words; there's so
much about him."
Funeral arrangements are
pending, family members
said.
Williams' death was revealed just one day after a
National Guardsman from
Kingston returned home after being wounded in Iraq.
National Guard Spc. Matt
Herndon sustained gunshot
wounds and a broken arm
and wrist in Mosul, Iraq, according to reports.
Herndon was one of five
Guardsmen from Oklahoma
and northern Texas wounded on Aug. 23, according to
reports. He returned home
for physical therapy.
Williams and Herndon
were classmates, a Williams
family member said.
The Associated Press contributed
to this story.
Rod Walton 581-8457
rod.walton@tulsaworld.com
