Captain Kimberly Hampton, a 1994 Easley High School graduate and a helicopter pilot with the United States Army 82nd Airborne Division, was killed when her OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter was shot down in Iraq on January 2, 2004.

As the Editor of The Pickens Sentinel at the time Kimberly was killed 20 years ago, I interviewed Ann and Dale Hampton in their home and wrote an in-depth story about their daughter, and then I attended Kimberly’s funeral service and wrote another in-depth story on the service. Kimberly, age 27, was the first female American military pilot to be shot down and killed by hostile fire, but her mother said that Kimberly preferred to be considered a soldier and a pilot who happened to be female. “She felt that, given the opportunities, within reason, she could do anything anyone else could do,” said Ann. When she was in third grade, Kimberly had written for a school assignment that she wanted “to fly like a bird.” “Be free and independent were the qualities she was referring to,” said Dale. “And that was what she ended up doing.”

I wrote additional stories through the years, including about the Captain Kimberly Hampton Memorial Golf Tournament held on May 13, 2019, and when the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter, like the one Kimberly flew, arrived at the Captain Kimberly Hampton Memorial Park at the Captain Kimberly Hampton Memorial Library in Easley on December 12, 2019 and when the Captain Kimberly Hampton Memorial Park was dedicated on March 10, 2020. Those were historic moments to honor an American hero. Operation Dragonfly was led by Jim Garrison. I encourage readers to visit the library and the memorial park named for Kimberly. As her mother, Ann, said at the dedication ceremony, “Freedom’s not free. Don’t ever take it for granted.”

In 2024, 20 years after her death, her fellow citizens continue to honor the memory of Captain Kimberly Hampton, a daughter and a hometown hero, and we honor her family, as well. The memory of Captain Kimberly Hampton will forever live in the hearts of her fellow citizens. We can never repay the great debt we owe to the men and women who have sacrificed for our freedom, and we can never repay the great debt we owe to their families for their sacrifice.