Posted on 11/12/2004 3:18:44 PM PST by The Anti-Democrat
(Columbia) Nov. 12, 2004 - A South Carolina Highway Patrolman who was working in Iraq to help train police forces there has been killed in an ambush.
Forty-seven-year-old Douglas Thomas was a veteran South Carolina Highway Patrol officer. In the early 1990s his picture was featured in posters for a statewide campaign against drunk driving. Lance Corporal Thomas was a USC graduate who joined the patrol in 1987. He was assigned to the patrol's Lexington office.
Thomas took a leave of absence to go to Iraq in June. A Patrol spokesman says Thomas was working for the DynCorp company, a subsidiary of Computer Sciences Corporation.
A company web site says DynCorp was under contract with the US State Department to serve as facilitators to help Iraq build a "self-sufficient national law enforcement infrastructure." DynCorp had been recruiting applicants to work in a civilian police program that would operate in Baghdad and outlying areas of Iraq.
Fellow Trooper and friend, Corporal Kelley Hughes spoke for the family Thursday evening, "The family would like people to know that Doug was a brave American who exemplified those attributes that we all admire in Americans. He loved God, he loved his family, and he loved his country. He felt he could make a difference in Iraq through his actions. Doug was the most unselfish person we have known." Hughes worked with Thomas for 12 years.
Hughes read a statement from the Thomas family, "The family of Doug Thomas cannot find the words to express how much we all miss this wonderful man. Doug was killed in an ambush in Iraq sometime on Wednesday." Thomas is survived by his wife and his son and daughter, both of whom are students at Clemson University.
Thomas was driving in a convoy to Tikrit when a roadside bomb exploded and a piece of shrapnel hit him. Hughes says he was the only person killed, "He was a friend to everybody. Very low keyed, real easy going, got along with everybody, very generous. He was the type of person you could call up and say, 'I need some help moving furniture or painting a house,' and he'd be right over to help you."
Hughes says after a year, Thomas was planning to put his badge back on and return to duty as a State Trooper, "He would want people to not be so sad about his passing. He would want people to know he's in a better place. He'd never been the type to cause a lot of commotion."
The family has not made plans for a funeral yet. They are waiting for his body to be returned from Iraq.
ping
Another Carolina hero has passed over. May God bless his soul and may his family feel the Blessings of the Lord.
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What a shame. God be with his family. Terrorists must die, they must know nothing else.
In addition to our armed services, there are many good people that are doing the Lord's work in Iraq. God bless them all....
Prayers for Doug and his loved ones.
I hate to read this; prayers for his family.
Rest in peace, brother.
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