This page is dedicated to our member, friend and fellow patriot, Rick Eaton, may he rest in peace. Died 12 August 2003 while recalled to active duty for US Army as a counterintelligence agent in Iraq.

This page will feature links to many newspapers submitted by our members. Please send links to the webmaster or JRL.

Governor Rowland has ordered that all State of Connecticut flags be lowered immediately to half staff in honor of Staff Sergeant Eaton. The Connecticut flag should remain lowered through sundown of the day of his internment which is yet to be determined.

By DIANE SCARPONI

GUILFORD, Conn. (AP) - An Army counterintelligence analyst who had been assigned to the Pentagon when it was attacked by terrorists died of an illness while serving in Iraq, his father said Wednesday. Richard Eaton said military officials notified the family that his son, Staff Sgt. Richard S. Eaton Jr., died in his sleep Tuesday.

Maj. Bill Adams, a casualty assistance officer, said the cause of death remains under investigation but is thought to be pulmonary edema - a buildup of fluid in the lungs. The family has few details about the death, the elder Eaton said, and they did not know whether he died from a strain of pneumonia that has killed other servicemen.

The elder Eaton, a spokesman for the University of New Haven, said his son's office in the Pentagon was struck by a hijacked jetliner during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The father said the office was being remodeled at the time and the younger Eaton was in an office away from the Pentagon.

Eaton, 37, who was not married, was in the Army Reserves and deployed to Iraq in March with the Fort Meade, Md.-based 323rd Military Intelligence Battalion, said his mother, Sharon Noble Eaton. Earlier in his Army career, the younger Eaton had been offered a spot at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., but declined because he believed "real soldiering" was done in the field, his father said. In the years that followed he spent close to 10 years in Korea and had appointments in Honduras, Korea, Panama and El Salvador.

Eaton grew up in Guilford, on the Connecticut coast near New Haven. He came from a long line of military men, including William Eaton, who helped reinstate the deposed leader of Tripoli and rescue American captives in the early 1800s. William Eaton's story is being made into a movie called "Tripoli" starring Russell Crowe.

LINKS:

http://go.efax.com/s/r/foxnews
Fallen Heroes of Operation Iraqi Freedom


Wednesday, August 13, 2003
http://www.foxnews.com/images/foxnews_story.gif
Following is the official list of American military personnel killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom:

Aug. 12 Army Staff Sgt. Richard S. Eaton Jr., 37, of Guilford, Conn. Died in his sleep of a pulmonary embolism in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. Assigned to the 323rd Military Intelligence Battalion, U.S. Army Reserves, Fort Meade, Md.

MORE LINKS:

http://www.militarycity.com/valor/2131442.html and http://www.rense.com/general40/dies.htm

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Obiturary

Richard S. Eaton Jr.; Died in Iraq War

Calling Richard S. Eaton Jr. of Guilford “my brother,” a former colleague in the U.S. Army’s Intelligence and Security Command said the soldier, special agent and counter-intelligence specialist “literally wrote the manual by which the Army intelligence community now conducts worldwide missions.” Another called him “a bookworm” who could be counted on for answers to any question dealing with intelligence protocols and practices. A field commander in Iraq, still mourning the death of the 37-year-old staff sergeant there, said his “professionalism educated us all.” Another colleague, writing from Asia, said he was stunned by Eaton’s insistence on joining the war effort because a serious back injury — incurred in Honduras — “could have kept him out of it.” A former naval officer and scholar called him a “thinking man’s patriot.” Still others said he was a hero, enduring any hardship to successfully prosecute a mission.

Eaton, a “soldiers’ soldier,” died of apparent heat stress and dehydration August 12 after returning from a mission near Ar Ramadi, Iraq. His family learned Tuesday that the Army will award him the Bronze Star for valor. Born in New Haven, CT February 9, 1966, he was the son of Richard S. and Sharon Noble Eaton. He lived in that city, Wallingford, Old Lyme and, for 29 years, in Guilford.

Before leaving for Korea in a civilian position with the U.S. Air Force, he lived in Alexandria, VA. He attended the Wooster School in Danbury, CT and graduated from Guilford H.S. in 1985. Shortly after negotiating an assignment to Military Intelligence — a long-held dream— Eaton enlisted in the U.S. Army. He received basic training at Fort Dix, NJ; and prepared to be assistant agent and special agent at Fort Huachuca, AZ. Serving 13 years on active duty, and five in the Army Reserves, he participated in missions in Korea, The Philippines, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama and in the U.S. He left full-time Army service in 1998, joining the Reserves and working as a civilian on intelligence programs with the Department of Defense, Department of the Army and government contractors. He was assigned to a U.S. Air Force security post in Korea when his Reserve group, the 323d MI Battalion at Fort Meade, MD, was activated for the war in Iraq. According to the Army, he held “positions of increasing responsibility in the intelligence community” and in “support of various joint contingency operations.” During the war, he became attached to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, conducting missions in the so-called Sunni Triangle.

Staff Sergeant Eaton was recognized repeatedly “for exemplary achievement during his service,” and with awards and decorations including the Army Commendation medal with three oak leaf clusters (4 awards), Achievement Medal with one Silver and Oak Leaf Cluster each (7 awards), and Good Conduct Medal (3 awards). Also, the National Defense Service Medal with star device, the Army Superior Unit Award, the Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon with two devices, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon (5 awards) and the Expert Marksmanship Badge with bars for rifle, pistol and grenade.

A varsity soccer player in high school, in Honduras he coached a children’s soccer team to second place in national competition. Also, as a volunteer, in Korea he taught English to adults. He attended Southern Connecticut State University and UCONN. A member of the First Congregational Church in Guilford, he is survived by his parents, military brothers and sisters, friends and beloved family.

The funeral will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Guilford church. Burial, at a family plot near the gravesite of his ancestor, Civil War General Amos Beebe Eaton, will be private.

Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to the Guilford Public Library, Park Street, Guilford, CT 06437; or to aid families of soldiers, the Army Emergency Relief Society, DPCA Building 3179, Attn: ANNMEPEFA, Fort Meade MD 20755-5078.

=================BELOW WILL LOAD SLOWELY DUE TO LARGE GRAPHICS. SPECIAL AGENT EATON'S FUNERAL HANDOUT IS BELOW ================

Photos from the funeral handouts.

Gift for Rick's Parents from his Friends in Korea

Korea Memorial Division --------------- American Legion China Post #1 Home page.