Defense Department Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced yesterday the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

They died June 20, in Khowst province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with small arms fire and an improvised explosive device.  They were assigned to the 133rd Military Police Company, 51st Military Police Battalion, Florence, S.C.
Killed were:

• 1st Lt. Ryan D. Rawl, 30, Lexington, S.C.,
• Sgt. 1st Class Matthew B. Thomas, 30, Travelers Rest, S.C., and
• Spc. John D. Meador II, 36, Columbia, S.C.

While the official notice from the Defense Department (above) gives the cause of death as a broader attack by enemy forces, more recent news reports indicate that the soldiers died in a suicide bombing.

1st Lt. Rawl, a 2000 graduate of Lexington High School and a 2004 graduate of The Citadel, was a Richland County Sheriff’s deputy who once served as a school resource officer at Crayton Middle School.  He is survived by his wife and two children.

A graduate of Travelers Rest High School, Sgt. 1st Class Thomas leaves behind his wife, Jana and a two-year-old son, Cayden.

Spc. Meador was a 1994 graduate of Lexington High School and is survived by his wife and three children.