God Bless this Hero and her family
Capt. Kimberley Hampton Hero sits in a OH-58 Kiowa helicopter in 2001
Capt. Kimberley Hampton sits in a OH-58 Kiowa helicopter in 2001 in South Korea . Hampton, 27, died Friday, Jan. 2, 2004, after her OH-58 Kiowa helicopter went down in enemy fire near Fallujah, Iraq , family spokesman Ken Porter said Saturday. The other pilot on the helicopter was injured in the crash. Hampton was stationed in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. She was based in Fort Bragg, N.C., and left for Iraq on Aug. 31. (AP Photo/Family photo)
Capt. Kimberley Hampton Hero
POSTED: 4:35 PM EST January 6, 2004
EASLEY, S.C. -- Funeral arrangements have been set for an Easley woman killed when her helicopter was shot down in Iraq.
Capt. Kimberly Hampton died Jan. 2 when her OH-58 Kiowa helicopter crashed near Fallujah.
Visitation will be Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Robinson Funeral Home, 1425 Powdersville Road in Easley.
Hampton's funeral will be held Saturday at Rock Springs Baptist Church, off Highway 123 in Easley at 2 p.m.
Hampton will be buried with full military honors at Robinson Memorial Gardens at 1425 Powdersville Road in Easley following the funeral.
Hampton, a native of Easley, S.C., and a 1998 graduate of Presbyterian College, was killed when her OH-58 Kiowa Warrior observation helicopter was attacked near the Iraqi town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad. A fellow solider on the helicopter was wounded in the attack.
“Alumni, students, faculty and staff often use the term ‘PC family’ because the college community is so close-knit. We have lost a member of that family,” PC director of communications Steve Owens said. “Kim was one of those students who could be found excelling in the classroom, competing on a tennis court, leading ROTC drills, working in the community, or meeting with friends. She truly was a Renaissance woman. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family during this difficult time.”
Hampton graduated with honors as an English major, one day after being commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. She attended PC on a full ROTC scholarship and served as the commander of the Scottish Highlander Battalion during her senior year. She accepted the Daughters of the American Revolution Award, the George C. Marshall Award, and the Wysor Saber as the battalion’s top graduate in 1998.
She also excelled in the classroom, where Hampton earned dean’s list honors for five consecutive semesters and was a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society. Her contributions to campus and community life included service through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Campus Outreach, the Student-Athlete Advisory Board, and as a Red Cross volunteer.
It was as a member of the Blue Hose women’s tennis team that Hampton gained the most attention. She finished her singles career with a 27-0 record in the South Atlantic Conference, winning conference singles titles in 1997 and 1998. The team captain finished her PC career ranked 28th nationally as a singles player and 18th nationally in doubles play.
Hampton led PC to the NCAA Division II Tournament for three consecutive years and was the SAC Female Athlete of the Year in 1998. As a result of her honors, she was nominated by PC as an NCAA Woman of the Year.
“Kim will be remembered as one of PC’s finest student-athletes,” said Blue Hose sports information director Al Ansley. “It would be difficult to find someone who was able to balance so many activities while excelling at all of them. Above all, she was just a great person.”
After earning her degree, Hampton was accepted into the aviation branch of the U.S. Army and was an honor graduate of U.S. Army Helicopter Flight School and Officer Basic Course at Fort Rucker, Ala.
Her first operational assignment was to the 4th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea. She served as a helicopter pilot and platoon leader there for two years with a mission of patrolling the No Fly Line along the Demilitarized Zone between North Korea and South Korea.
Hampton returned to Fort Rucker in January of 2002, and was an honors graduate of the seven-month Aviation Officer Advanced Course and Combined Arms Services Staff School. She was then assigned to the 82nd Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., in August of 2002.
After serving in Afghanistan with Coalition Joint Task Force 180 for Operation Enduring Freedom, Hampton returned to the United States and was deployed to Iraq last September.
Despite her world travels, Hampton remained interested in and involved with her alma mater, according to director of alumni relations Randy Randall.
“As a class agent, it would be hard to find a better one. She would e-mail us from all over the world — whether Korea or Afghanistan — to keep us up to date and stay informed of what was happening at PC. She also expressed an interest in serving as a member of the ROTC Alumni Association executive committee,” Randall said. “One thing was clear —she was definitely doing what she loved.”
PC observed a moment of silence for Hampton prior to Saturday’s men’s basketball game at the Ross E. Templeton Center.
She was the first woman in the 82nd Airborne Division to die from hostile fire. She also is the division's first company commander to die in the war on terrorism, and the first female from SC to die in Iraq. These are milestones we could do without, but we knew they were coming eventually.
At Presbyterian College, she was remembered as an honor graduate who never lost a tennis match, known for her "Kimbo smile."
She was given a full ceremonial funeral in Easley, SC, complete with 82nd Airborne casket barers, horse-drawn caisson and riderless black horse. Her parents were presented her bronse star, purple heart, and air medal.
The Kiowa Warrior flies in support of infantry soldiers on the ground. The helicopter can shoot and observe action on the ground and has radio communications to ask for more firepower. As Gen. Rowe noted:
"For the infantry, these are angels with firepower."
Now Kimerly is an angel in a better place, where there are no terrorists (contrary to what they are told).
She then volunteered for Iraq, where enemy ground fire crippled her chopper, which crashed into a wall, breaking her neck. She was 27 years old when she died in the early days of a new year.
Everyone who served with her remembers not just her skill — but her attitude. "Capt. Hampton told me, if it can be done, my guys will do it," said her commanding officer, Robin Brown. Said another colleague, "She was like a breath of fresh air, mixing old traditions with the dawn of a new age."
Hampton died Jan. 2 near the Iraqi city of Fallujah, a hotbed of anti-American insurgency. As of this week, nearly 500 U.S. troops have died since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1, 2003.
Dedicated attitude
The pattern started to emerge early, at tiny (enrollment 1,200) Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C., where Hampton graduated with honors. A champion on the tennis courts — 27-0 in three years of singles — she was admired by teammates and adored by her coach, Donna Arnold.
"Kimbo was a coach's dream," Arnold said. “You put her on the court, you didn't have to worry; she knew what to do and was going to do it, giving it everything she had."
In the classroom she was also a super-achiever, but with a quiet grace. "She was competitive, but it wasn't about beating people; it was about being the best she could be," said her ROTC commander, Lt. Larry Mulhall, who persuaded Hampton to help him recruit others after graduation, which led to a surge in ROTC enrollment.
"She was exceptional, but what you need to know is that she wasn't a hot dog, she didn't like to draw attention to herself," said Dr. Dean Thompson, her favorite English teacher. Or, as Presbyterian College President John Griffith put it, "She kept a sign over her desk, from Aristotle — that excellence is not an act but a habit. That sums up Kimberly."
Parents' loss, solace in how she lived life
An only child, her loss is crushing for her parents. Now, every day, around her neck, her mother, Ann Hampton, wears a gold charm of a Kiowa helicopter that Kimberly gave her after graduating from flight school at Fort Rucker in Alabama.
Ann is unflinching now, in her grief, as is her husband, Dean, a successful business executive who never once missed one of his daughter's tennis matches. "She hated to see us cry; she did her job; now we're trying to do ours," her mother recalled.
There is no rancor in this family, no bitterness over the administration policy in Iraq. "Kimberly was doing what she wanted to do.... She believed in the cause; we still do," her father said.
The Hamptons are consoled because Kimberly never relinquished her dream — of flying and serving — from the third grade.
As Thompson summed up, "When you consider how many people go through life on autopilot, never really reaching for the stars, and then you look at what Kimberly did, you cannot regret the cause she was fighting for."
