Va. Beach Soldier 'Stood Proud' in Service

Sandy Mahoney remembered the day William L. Meredith came back to Virginia Beach from Army basic training, wearing his uniform.

"He just stood proud," she said.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that Pfc. Meredith, 26, of Virginia Beach died two days before in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Meredith died from injuries he received when a bomb exploded near his vehicle, the Pentagon said.

As a teenager, Meredith attended Ocean Lakes High School. Another student there was Sandy Mahoney's son, Chris. The two were also members of a youth group and volunteered at a retirement home. He enjoyed video games and music. The heavy metal band Tool, Sandy Mahoney said, was Meredith's favorite.

After his father moved from the area, Mahoney said, Meredith wanted to stay with his friends, so he lived with her family for several years.

Mahoney got a bunk bed for her son's bedroom, and Chris and William were quartered there, arguing regularly about who would sleep in the upper bunk. "Nobody wanted to sleep in the top," she said.

After they fell asleep, she said, "they never got up for school." It was up to her to drive them to school every day. But she gave one-way transportation. After school, they walked home.

"He was no bother, " Mahoney said Friday night. His father had raised "a wonderful young man."

After leaving school without graduating, he worked for a time and got his general equivalency diploma and his driver's license. Then, she said, he was on his way, out into the wider world.

He was assigned to the 569th Engineer Company, 4th Engineer Battalion, Fort Carson, Colo. The battalion was assigned to detect and remove roadside bombs like the one that caused his death.

According to an Associated Press account, he received the Bronze Star Medal and the Combat Action Badge, awarded for facing the enemy in combat.

Mahoney said Meredith "was probably the most well-mannered young man that I knew."