One of the three U.S. Army reservists killed in a Jan. 28 drone attack in Jordan is scheduled to be memorialized at a church in Carrollton next week, according to reports from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
William Jerome Rivers, who was posthumously promoted to staff sergeant, will be honored at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Tabernacle Baptist Church. During a private ceremony afterward, he will be interred at Georgia National Cemetery in Canton.
A Philadelphia native who went by “Will,” Rivers, 46, was married with one son and two stepchildren. He enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2011 as an interior electrician. Seven years later, he completed a nine-month rotation in Iraq. Rivers was deployed this year to a logistics support base near the Syrian border as part of the 718th Engineer Company, which is assigned to Fort Moore in Georgia.
His obituary says he “displayed a deep sense of patriotism and a desire to serve his country.”
“William had a gentle demeanor and a fierce and determined personality and was always ready to face life’s challenges with courage and resilience,” his obituary says. “He had an infectious smile, a warm heart, and a genuine ability to make everyone around him feel valued and loved.”