Army Sgt. Shawn F. Hill

Died January 2, 2008 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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37, of Wellford, S.C.; assigned to the 178th Engineer Battalion, 218th Infantry Brigade, South Carolina Army National Guard, Rock Hill, S.C.; died Jan. 2 in Khowst province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device.

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Guardsman from Wellford dies in Afghanistan

The Associated Press

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — A National Guard soldier from Wellford died Wednesday in Afghanistan after his vehicle struck a bomb, according to the Defense Department.

Sgt. Shawn F. Hill, 37, joined the National Guard 12 years ago and was serving his second tour overseas, his wife Julie said.

“He was a good father, soldier and husband, and he died doing what he loved to do, and there’s not a person who ever met him that didn’t love him,” Julie Hill said.

The Hills had been married for 16 years and had three sons. He joined the National Guard to provide for them as he studied electrical engineering and continued to serve after becoming an electrician, his wife said.

Shawn Hill was assigned to the 178th Engineer Battalion, 218th Infantry Brigade, based in Rock Hill.

He was home for Thanksgiving before returning to Afghanistan.

Hill is the third South Carolina National Guard member to die in Afghanistan in the past three months.

Staff Sgt. James David Bullard, 28, and Sgt. Edward Philpot, 38, died within weeks of each other in October. Bullard had returned a month earlier the birth of his first child. Philpot was a married father of three.

Funeral arrangements for Hill have not been set.