http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2007/04/04/for_maine_soldier_in_afghanistan_the_biggest_fear_becomes_reality/For Maine soldier in Afghanistan, the biggest fear becomes reality
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff | April 4, 2007
Army Specialist Christopher M. Wilson, a Maine resident with Massachusetts ties, wrote in a Web profile that his worst fear was not returning from Afghanistan to see his 4-year-old daughter.
That fear became a grim reality Thursday when Wilson, 24, died after a rocket-propelled grenade exploded near his position during a firefight in Korengal. Three other US soldiers were wounded in the attack, according to an Army spokesman.
Wilson, who enlisted in the Army in September 2002 and trained as a rifleman, was deployed to Afghanistan in March 2006 with the First Battalion, 32d Infantry Regiment, Third Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. The unit had been scheduled to return in February, but its tour was extended until June, said Benjamin Abel, a spokesman for the 10th Mountain Division, which is based at Fort Drum, N.Y.
Wilson was born in North Dakota, spent the 1997-98 academic year at North Quincy High School, and lived in South Hadley, Chicopee, and Bangor, according to family friends and the Defense Department.
Before enlisting, Wilson studied culinary arts in Bangor with the Penobscot Job Corps, said Monique LaRiviere, a family friend from South Hadley. Wilson's daughter, Jayden, lives in Maine, and his mother and stepfather live in Chicopee, LaRiviere said. A sister lives in Texas.
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