William Watkins
Rank/Branch: Maj./Air Force
Unit: 333rd Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.
Age
Date of Birth
Home City of Record: Danville, Va.
Date of Loss: April 06, 2003
Country of Loss: Iraq
Loss Coordinates:
Status: MIA -- Declared dead -- DOD Report_April 23, 2003
Category:
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F-15E
Personnel in Incident: Air Force Maj. William Watkins and Air Force Capt. Eric Das who was declared dead 18 April 2003
Source: Compiled by Last Firebase Veterans Archives Project from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Date Updated: April 23, 2003

REMARKS:
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 23, 2003
DOD IDENTIFIES AIR FORCE CASUALTY
The Department of Defense announced today that Maj. William R. Watkins III, 37, of Danville, Va., was killed in action April 7 while supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Watkins was assigned to the 333rd Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.
Watkins was the weapons system officer of an F-15E that went down April 7 during a combat mission in Iraq. The incident remains under investigation.
The pilot of the F-15E, Capt. Eric B. Das, was also killed when the aircraft went down.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2003/b04232003_bt267-03.html

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Although Air Force Maj. William Watkins and Capt. Eric Das, were aboard an F-15E Strike Eagle jet fighter that went down in Iraq around 7:30 p.m. EDT Sunday, April 06, the U.S. military refused to designate the two airmen missing in action (MIA).
Military representatives met the next day with the families of Maj. Watkins and Capt. Das and told them that the "pilots whereabouts were unknown."
1st Lt. Beverly Wock, deputy public affairs officer for the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing at Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base near Goldsboro, N.C. said the military sends representatives to meet with families when a serviceman is missing in action, taken prisoner or killed.
"The military is a family and we take care of our family," she said.
Lt. Wock would not comment on whether Watkins is assigned to the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing or the nature of his mission. However, two airmen from that fighter wing were aboard an F-15 Strike Eagle that went down in Iraq.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Derek Kaufman, a public affairs officer stationed in Kuwait, would not say Tuesday who was in the plane.
Kaufman said the cause of the crash is unknown, but it was being investigated and a search and rescue team had been deployed.
Defense officials in the Pentagon have given no information on whether the airplane was shot down or crashed for other reasons.
The two airmen and their aircraft were forward-deployed from the 4th Fighter Wing, at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., according to a news release from the Combined Forces Air Component Command at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia.
Maj. Watkins, who grew up in South Boston, is the son of Amy Atkins of Danville.
Maj. Watkins is the nephew of Tucker Watkins, former 5th District chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia and an aide to U.S. Sen. George Allen.
"He's a young man, who ... feels that he has a responsibility to his country. He'd rather be here with his family than over there," Tucker Watkins said Tuesday.
"Before he left (for the Middle East), he expressed his appreciation for those who were supporting the troops overseas."
Local ministers said the family needs the support of the community and its prayers, but they cautioned that the family's privacy should be respected.
The Rev. Joe Northern, a minister at First Baptist Church on Main Street in Danville, said friends of the Watkins family and people who don't know the family should pray for them.
Northern also said people who know the family should offer their direct support and assistance, if the family welcomes it.
"If you know them, make contact," Northern said. "The act of being there, having a presence, is as important as anything else."
Northern said it is important for someone to be with the family as they receive more information about Watkins.
Doug Barber, pastor of Westover Baptist Church, also said praying for the family would be the most important thing for anyone to do.
"People should pray earnestly for this family, for God to bring to their hearts his peace ... that is the first and greatest thing you can do for someone in crisis," Barber said.
Barber said those who know the family should make a personal visit, send a card or note, or make a telephone them.
Barber also said anyone who had been through a situation similar to the Maj. Watkins' would be a valuable component to a support system.
"(Such a person) could not only sympathize, they could empathize," Barber said. "The family would be more receptive to someone who has walked that pathway."

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