ABERDEEN, WA, USA U.S. Air Force SSGT, 23D SPECIAL TACTICS SQUADRON, HURLBURT FIELD, FL ORUZGAN, AFGHANISTAN 02/20/2009
Air Force Staff Sergeant Timothy P. Davis, who grew up in Montesano, has been killed in the Oruzgan province of Afghanistan as the result of injuries received from an improvised explosive device.
The Daily World reported Air Force personnel delivered the news of Davis’ death to his mother, Sally Sheldon, at her home in Aberdeen on Friday. Davis’ father, Mike Davis, lives in Ocean Shores. Davis grew up in Montesano.
Timothy Davis had just turned 28 and would have been married for five years next month. He met his wife, Meagan, while training at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane. The couple had a 1-year-old son, Timmy Jr.
Meagan Davis told The Daily World by telephone from Spokane on Friday, “My breath has just been taken away. I am still in shock.”
Timothy Davis was assigned to Florida’s Hurlburt Field. He was with the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron.
Governor Chris Gregoire ordered that flags at state agencies fly at half-staff Friday in memory of Air Force Staff Sergeant Timothy Davis.
At the Montesano High School gymnasium, where he once excelled as a wrestler, Air Force Staff Sergeant Timothy Davis of Montesano was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star for valor and a Purple Heart. The medals were presented Saturday to his wife, Meagan, of Spokane.
Family, lifelong friends and military friends were among those who mourned his loss. Every bleacher and every chair in the gym was filled at the high school, where Davis graduated in 1999.
“He was, mentally, the strongest person I have ever known,” said Jesse Huggins, Davis’ best friend since Little League. “There are things that in life are so difficult, no one else is willing to volunteer for. He would.”
One of those things was the 800 meter race in track, which is notorious for being tough and was Davis’ preferred event. Huggins recalled seeing Davis throw up after many races, because he had pushed himself so hard.
Davis was a member of the Air Force’s Special Tactics team, an elite group with only 300 members. At least 80 team members, in scarlet berets, came to pay their final respects.
Matt Mensch said he and Timothy P. Davis were paired up in training in the Air Force. It was hard on him, Mensch said, because Davis was so good at everything. And while at first he thought Davis was something of a blowhard, he learned to respect his fellow airman.
“There’s a difference between being cocky and being competent,” Mensch said. “Whatever he did, he did it right.”