Heath A. McMillin was an accomplished athlete who loved the outdoors and poured his energy into whatever pursuit caught his imagination.
"In athletics he was very competitive, wanted to win, wanted to achieve in things he was interested in," said his former basketball coach, Richard Jones. "If he felt strongly about something, he would really go above and beyond in his effort in that area."
McMillin, 29, a National Guardsman from Canandaigua, N.Y., was killed July 27 in an attack south of Baghdad.
McMillin joined the armed forces out of high school in 1993 and was stationed at Camp Pendleton in the late 1990s. He was married and had three children, ages 7, 3 and 11 months.
McMillin had one weekend left in his National Guard duty when he was informed he would be heading to Iraq, his sister said.
"He
was proud to do it and he knew that is what he had to do," said
Kasandra McMillin, 21, of Biddeford, Maine.
Sgt. Heath McMillin was killed while on patrol July 27 south of Baghdad. He was assigned to the 105th Military Police Company of the Army National Guard in Buffalo.
McMillin’s mother lives in Biddeford, Maine. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, described McMillin as “truly an American hero to us all.”
“His bravery in action, his commitment to freedom and democracy and his loyalty to his country will forever be his legacy,” she said.
The defense department said 176 members of the 105th have been deployed.
The unit left Buffalo in February for
up to two years, the Buffalo News reported. The 105th was previously
deployed on a peace-keeping mission in Bosnia.