[ WAR IN IRAQ ]

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Soldier’s body
here for burial

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

The body of Sgt. Eugene Williams, who was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq last month, arrived in Hawaii yesterday for funeral services and burial at a Mililani cemetery.

Williams' body was accompanied by his younger brother, Eric, who also is in the Army. Eric Williams was in Kuwait when his brother was killed March 29. A suicide bomber, posing as a taxicab driver, pulled up to a roadblock north of Najaf and waved to the troops for help. Eugene Williams was one of four U.S. soldiers who died, and another was injured.

The soldiers were members of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), at Fort Stewart, Ga.

The date of the funeral services has not been set, said Bob Warner, spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division, where Williams, 24, served from April 1998 to December 2001. Williams had been a member of 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment (Gimlets), at Schofield Barracks.

Williams would have celebrated his 25th birthday on April 30. His wife, Brandy, and their 3-year-old daughter, Mya, live in Kapolei. She is expecting a second daughter in June.

A memorial service was held for Williams Monday in his hometown of Highland, a small town 70 miles south of Albany, N.Y.

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