Army Spc. Nicholas E. Wilson

Died March 11, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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21, of Glendale, Ariz.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Camp Casey, Korea; killed while conducting a roving patrol March 11 when the shoulder of the road he was on collapsed and his military vehicle rolled into a water-filled ditch in Ramadi, Iraq.

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Glendale soldier killed in Iraq rollover

Associated Press

PHOENIX — Spc. Nicholas Eugene Wilson, who died last week in Iraq, could never settle for a job in a calm environment, his mother said Monday.

“Ever since (the movie) ‘Twister,’ he’s always wanted to chase tornados,” said Wilson’s mother, Debbie Newhouse. “He always wanted to learn the hard way. He always went for the gusto in life.”

Wilson, 21, of Glendale, died Friday in Ramadi, Iraq, when his Humvee rolled into a water-filled ditch after the shoulder of the road he was on collapsed, the military said.

He was a member of the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division based at Camp Casey, South Korea.

Wilson enlisted in the Army in February 2003.

“My husband, Ray, would always tell him about war stories in Vietnam and the Gulf War,” Newhouse said. “It was something he (Wilson) wanted to do. He wanted to be an infantryman. He said it sounded exciting.”

Wilson had previously written to a fourth-grade class, which had sent care packages to his company, to say that life is what you make of it.

“You have to have faith, confidence, positive outlook and always be open to do things a different, faster and smarter way,” he wrote.

Newhouse called Wilson her “miracle child.”

He was born three months prematurely and was in the neonatal intensive care unit for three months.

“They said if he was going to survive, he would be a real fighter,” she said.

Wilson planned to attend the University of Arizona when he came back, Mrs. Newhouse said.

“His best friend was moving down to Tucson, they were going to be roommates,” she said. “He said, ‘There’s a lot of good-looking chicks there.’ And I said, ‘I know, I went there.’ And he said, ‘That’s too much information, Mom.’

“He was one of my best friends. He was a very loving, caring son,” she said. “I’m going to miss him.”