U.S. Army
SPC, COMPANY A, 3D BATTALION, 509TH INFANTRY, FORT RICHARDSON, AK
KARMAH, IRAQ 01/20/2007
Jeffrey Dean Bisson, 22, was born in Chula Vista, California. Jeffrey spent the first eight years of his life living in Carlsbad and then moved to Vista with his family. There he built lasting friendships through his involvement in sports teams, Scouts and school. In 2003, he graduated from Rancho Buena Vista High School. Jeffrey’s parents trace his passion for outdoor adventure to his years as a Boy Scout.”They did camping and fishing, went to many summer camps. Bows and arrows, swimming, hiking, biking, high adventure,” his mother said.Starting as a Cub Scout, Jeffrey achieved the honor of Eagle Scout. In his qualifying project, he worked with a team to build a drinking fountain outside a Salvation Army building where the Scouts met every week.
His father watched him mature into a man as he became an Eagle Scout, graduated from high school and joined the military.Whether he was mountain biking, hiking, learning how to pitch a tent and survive in the wild, or soaring through the sky in his favorite pastime-skydiving-his son gave it his all. His father said, “You could see that the fire of adventure in him was quickly spreading.”His mother thinks his Scouting background helped prompt his decision to join the Army after graduating from Rancho Buena Vista High School. He wanted to travel the world.
Jeffrey made a lasting impression on people, not only through his military service but also through his love of adventure and passion for life.
“Some people say I am a little on the crazy side when it comes to the stuff I do for fun,” Jeffrey had written on his MySpace site, “but, hey, I like to live my life on the edge a little.”In the end, Jeffrey’s passion for adventure and sky diving helped propel him into the Army and then to Iraq.
The Army led him to Alaska and his young wife Rebecca, whom he convinced to go skydiving with him. They were married on 3,510-foot-high Flattop Mountain near Anchorage in the mid-April wind with snow on the ground and the temperature in the 20s.
He wanted to go fight because he wanted to ensure that Iraqis enjoyed freedom.
Jeffrey was a U.S. Army paratrooper assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.
On Jan. 20, 2007, he was among four soldiers killed when a roadside bomb exploded near their Humvee in Karmah, west of Baghdad.
He died just 10 days before he was due home on leave. As his memorial service, his mother Rebecca said, “I know he is looking down on us, smiling and getting ready to make his big jump into heaven. We have wonderful blue skies today.”
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