Captain Joshua Stewart Meadows -- Soldier

On Wednesday, September 9, 2009 the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command announced Captain Joshua S. Meadows, 30, of Elgin, Texas, died September 5 while conducting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He was assigned to 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, based at Camp Pendleton Calif.

Meadows joined the Marine Corps on Sept. 28, 1996 and was trained as a Pilot UH-1N Qualified. He was promoted to Captain on July 1, 2006, joining MARSOC on May 28, 2009. His decorations include a Purple Heart, a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons, the Global War On Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, a National Defense Service Medal, one Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal, a Navy Unit Commendation, four Letters of Appreciation, three Meritorious Masts and a Certificate of Commendation.

Captain Meadows is among 738 U.S. military members who have died to date in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. military action in Afghanistan after the 9-11-01 attack on New York City, according to the Defense Department.

An accomplished Marine who was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Meadows is said to have been very proud to serve his country and had been deployed overseas several times throughout his military career. In August of 2008, Meadows was the lead Marine Corps Huey helicopter pilot seeing action in the Gulf of Aden in an operation that prevented a pirate attack on the Gem of Kilakarai, a Singapore cargo ship. Marines with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, were deployed aboard the USS Peleliu provided aerial support and explosive ordnance disposal during the mission.

Captain Meadows, who was an Eagle Scout, graduated from Elgin High School in Elgin, Texas in 1997 and joined the U.S. Marines Corps before completing his high school studies. He was listed as active duty in May 1997 and reported to boot camp in San Diego. He was on active duty there through December. In January 1998, he enrolled at Texas Tech University and served as a member of a reserve unit in Austin, where he attended monthly drills and spent six weeks in the summer with his unit. Meadows graduated from TTU with a degree in business in four years and attended one session of summer school. He then was commissioned as an officer and attended a two-year program in flight school. During that time, Meadows was stationed in Pensacola, Florida and Corpus Christi.

Following flight school, Meadows was stationed at Camp Pendleton for more than five years and flew Huey helicopters. In November of 2008 Captain Meadows was assigned to a special forces team unrelated to flying. Meadows and his wife, Angela of Carlsbad, Calif., were expecting their first child in just a few weeks. Meadows is the son of Jan and the late Robert Meadows of Elgin. He is survived by one sister, Erin Meadows, of Monument, Colorado.

Everyone who knew Capt. Meadows considered him a friend. He was a devout Christian and always had a sincere smile on his face. His friends described him as the kind of person everyone should strive to be. Meadows will always be remembered as a true hero who made the ultimate sacrifice fighting for what he believed in.

Friends of the Meadows family encouraged all citizens and businesses in Elgin to display flags at half-staff and/or red, white and blue ribbons, especially on the main roads, in honor of fallen hometown hero, U.S. Marine Captain Joshua S. Meadows. Texas Governor Rick Perry granted approval for the entire community to fly flags at half-staff until September 12. 

 

THE LINEAGE:

(Joshua Stewart Meadows was the son of Robert Read and Jan Ellen Hultberg Meadows, grandson of Henry Edward and Read Thomas Meadows and great-grandson of Claude William and Susan Martin Moore Meadows.  Susan was the seventh child of Thomas Oscar and Sarah Adelie Thomas Moore.  Sarah was the third child of Stanley and Sarah Thompson Rothrock Thomas.  Stanley was the seventh child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

Robert Baker Thomas -- Businessman

Robert Baker Thomas was a Confederate Civil War veteran and a successful whiskey
merchant of Louisville, Kentucky.  He owned his own railroad car, which he used to make trips
from Louisville to visit his sister in Comanche, Texas.  Made a "Kentucky Colonel" in 1879 by
Governor Luke P. Blackburn, Robert was also an avid hunter and fisherman, and spent many
winters fishing off the east coast of Florida.  In March, 1903, he wrote the following description
of some birds native to the Miami area:
"It is a common thing to see buzzards on the roofs of houses at Miami and in the
streets.  The crows light in the streets and yards and feed with the chickens like our tame
pigeon, in fact are tamer.  These birds are great scavengers, and they are not allowed to be
killed.  The jackdaw, which is exactly like our largest black bird that we have in the spring,
mingle with the crow, and the only way you can tell them apart is in size.  It is one of the
finest and sweetest songsters I ever heard.  They are as great or greater singers than the
mocking bird, which are also very numerous.  We see down here around us every winter
people in boats sent from New York and other eastern cities killing these beautiful birds for
their plumage to trim and ornament ladies' hats, bonnets and dresses.  It is a shame, and I
believe if many of the ladies who used such ornaments could see these pretty birds in all
their glory, beauty and innocence, and how much they add as their part to the beauties of
nature, they would quit the use of their plumage as ornaments and join the Audubon
Society."
The following is from Robert Baker Thomas' obituary in the Cadiz Record:
.
Robert Baker Thomas died at his apartments at the home of Mrs. Addie Gunn in this
city last Monday morning at seven o'clock (May 12, 1913).  For ten days past his condition had
rapidly grown worse and for several days before the end came his death had been expected.
Mr. Thomas was born in Cadiz on the 4th day of May, 1845, and was the eldest son
of Col. Stanley Thomas, deceased, who was one of the most prominent men of the county,
having been Sheriff and held other positions of honor and trust in business and official life.
The mother of Col. R. B. Thomas was before her marriage Miss Sarah Thompson, a sister
of Messrs. Moses and J. E. Thompson and a half-sister of Messrs. Robert and Alexander
Baker.  Col. Thomas grew to manhood in Cadiz and for a number of years was engaged in
business here.  In 1874 he moved to Louisville and engaged in the wholesale business, the
firm being Thomas, Price & Major.  Later the firm was Thomas & Lindsay and afterward
Col. Thomas bought out the entire business and ran it for years under the name of R. B.
Thomas.  He was quite successful, and amassed a considerable fortune.  Col. Thomas
retired from business in 1900 and about eleven years ago moved back to Cadiz, the home
of his boyhood, and had since lived in specially prepared apartments at the home of Mrs.
Gunn in this city.
For twenty-five years Col. Thomas had been a sufferer from locomotar axia, and his
hearing had not been the best.  He was able to go about, however, and always enjoyed
outdoor sports, and until three or four years ago spent much of his leisure time during the
hunting season with dog and gun in the field.  He was also a great fisherman, and belonged
to several clubs in Louisville and always joined them on their annual trips to the lakes of
Canada in summer and the warmer climate along the coast in winter.  His afflictions had
made this impossible for the past four years.
Out of his large estate he had always been a liberal contributor to charitable and
church purposes, and in his will leaves his property to his sister, Mrs. Sallie Moore, and her
children, and to his sister-in-law [the widow of Henry Thomas], who has lived in California
for a number of years.
Funeral services were held at the home of Mrs. Gunn on East Main street Tuesday
afternoon at 3:30 o'clock.  A large crowd of relatives and friends were present to pay a last
tribute of respect to the deceased.  The pall bearers were his two nephews, Messrs. Robert
and Henry Moore, and Messrs. Percy Preston, Ben T. and Stanley White.  The remains
were buried in the family lot in East End Cemetery in Cadiz, Kentucky..      THE LINEAGE: (Robert Baker Thomas was the first son of Stanley and Sarah Thompson Rothrock Thomas and the grandson of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)