Donn Weaver - Army 1968-72 and Todd Weaver - Army '02-10 (KIA 09/09/10)
Donn Weaver - Army 1968-72 and Todd Weaver - Army '02-10 (KIA 09/09/10)
Donn Weaver joined the US Army after graduating from college and was assigned to the DMZ in Korea in 1968. After serving his tour in Korea he was reassigned as a Company Commander in the New Your City Area. After his enlistment was up, he went to work for the American Government and traveled to over 136 countries. After he retired from the Government, he because a contractor teaching Special Forces members how to deal with embassies and government officials. Donn now volunteers at the Brevard Veterans Memorial Center, Merritt Island, Florida.
1st LT Todd William Weaver, 26, was killed in action in Kandahar, Afghanistan on September 9, 2010. He died while leading his platoon and protecting the freedoms of the family, friends, and country he loved. Todd's short life was full, happy and exceptionally accomplished. A veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was a decorated officer with an extremely bright future in the military.
The youngest child of four, Todd was born October 22, 1983, in Fairfax, VA. He was twelve years younger than his brother, Glenn. Before his first birthday, Todd received his first passport and traveled across the Atlantic Ocean with his parents to live in Budapest, Hungary. His father was assigned there to the American Embassy, as a foreign service officer. This would be the beginning of a lifetime of travel throughout the world and across five continents. He later lived in Lagos, Nigeria; Sofia, Bulgaria; St. Petersburg, Russia; Mosul, Iraq; and Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Todd’s inherent attributes of humor, fellowship, leadership, athletics and scholarship were evident at a very early age. The youngest of the four children, he learned patience and humility. He respected and loved his brother, Glenn, and two sisters, Adrianna and Kristina. He looked to them for guidance and wisdom. He had a mischievous and comical nature. By his family and friends, he is remembered for many, many of his escapades.
Fellowship was essential to his character. It would see him through his life as a person who became a friend to all by accepting everyone at their worth, and by having a special ability to develop friendships quickly. Todd graduated from Bruton High School in Williamsburg, Va in 2002. There he excelled in athletics where he was a football quarterback and a baseball star. He also was an exceptional student. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA in 2008. In fact, during seven days in May 2008, Todd graduated from college, was inducted into PBK, was commissioned as a 2LT in the Army, and married Emma Cloyed. She was also a 2002 graduate of Bruton High as well as Radford University, class of 2006. Their daughter, Kiley Honoria Nell, celebrated her first birthday while Todd was deployed to Kandahar.
Numbers sometimes tell a story. Todd grew up in four different countries, learned two foreign languages, served his country in two wars, visited twenty-six countries and walked on five continents in his shortened time on earth. Todd touched countless lives with his love and light. His family and friends remain to find ways to carry on his example of courage, determination, and selflessness.
