SALEM, CT, USA U.S. Army CPT, COMPANY E, 3D BATTALION, 67TH ARMOR, FORT HOOD, TX BAGHDAD, IRAQ 11/26/2006
Friends who knew Jason R. Hamill since elementary school said he would do just about anything to make his friends laugh. One New Year’s Eve, when it was only about 10 degrees outside, Paul DeCoster offered Hamill $25 to jump into a lake.
He did it, even though he was shivering all night. DeCoster said he and his friends told him they would have offered him more money. He said, ‘That’s OK, I would’ve done it for free,’ DeCoster said. That’s the kind of guy he was.
Hamill, 31, of New Haven, Conn., was killed Nov. 26 by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. He graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in economics in 1998 and was assigned to Fort Hood.
Hamill, one of a set of fraternal triplets that includes a brother, Jeffrey, and a sister, Stephanie. When Hamill was younger, he and Jeffrey would switch classes and try to fool the teachers. In high school, Hamill played the drums and wrestled.
If you ever needed him, he was the first guy there, without question, said friend Jon Stadler. He would always make everyone feel they were very important to him.
Army Captain Jason R. Hamill 31, of Killeen, Texas, was killed Nov. 26, 2006 while serving in Iraq.
He was born Jan. 5, 1975 in New Haven to Richard and Sharon Norton Hamill. Jason grew up in Salem and graduated from the University of Connecticut before joining the Army in 1998.
He married Karen Nixon on July 30, 2005 in Rockwall, Texas and was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas before being deployed to Iraq in December 2005.
Survivors include his wife, Karen, of Texas; parents, Richard and Sharon Hamill, of Salem; a brother, Jeffrey Hamill, of Providence, R.I.; sisters, Stephanie de Lancastre and husband, Alexandre, of New Haven and Tonya Taday and husband, Alexander, of Manassas, Va.; and two nephews.