Marine Capt. Joshua S. Meadows

Died September 5, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

---

30, of Bastrop, Texas; assigned to 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died Sept. 5 while supporting combat operations in Koshan, Afghanistan.

---

MarSOC officer killed in Afghanistan

Staff report

A California-based Marine was killed Saturday in Afghanistan’s Farah province, the Pentagon reported Wednesday.

Capt. Joshua S. Meadows, 30, of Bastrop, Texas, died from wounds sustained during a firefight, friends told the Elgin Courier, his hometown newspaper. A UH-1N Huey pilot, he was assigned to 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Corps Forces-Special Operations Command, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

He had joined MarSOC in May, Marine officials said in a statement.

Meadows enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1996, and he served as a reservist while studying at Texas Tech University, the Courier reported. He and his wife were expecting the birth of their first child.

His military awards and decorations included the Purple Heart, Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal and Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal, officials said.

---

Meadows approached Marine service ‘like it was his destiny’

The Associated Press

Joshua S. Meadows was about to become a father. He was only two weeks away from coming home where his wife was waiting to reveal whether they’d have a boy or girl when he died Sept. 5 while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan.

The 30-year-old from Bastrop, Texas, was assigned to Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Friends said Meadows was a devout Christian and Eagle Scout who always had a sincere smile. He joined the Marines before graduating from Elgin High School in 1997 and earned a business degree from Texas Tech University before he was commissioned as an officer.

“He was just a very polite young man, very ‘Yes, sir, No, sir,’ ” said family friend Jeff Carter. “Some people join the military, and it’s just a job. But he approached it like it was his destiny.”

Local library director Sandy Ott said she remembered watching Meadows as a boy, riding in a green pickup and wrestling with his late father, Robert Meadows, also a Marine.

“Joshua and Robert are probably up in heaven now knocking each other in the head and playing,” she said.

Meadows is survived by his wife in Carlsbad, Calif.; his mother, Jan; and his sister, Erin.