His mother, Rhonda Thompson, told The Washington Post that DeCrow had a bothersome case of sleep apnea and had requested a medical discharge. He hoped to move back to Evans and work as an Army contractor at Fort Gordon, she said.


FORT HOOD SHOOTINGS
Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow remembered for his sense of humor
By Steven Kreytak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Editor's note: Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow was one of 13 people killed Thursday at Fort Hood

When Justin DeCrow was a boy, he ran into Davy Wallace and another boy at Dixon Lake in northern Indiana, just outside his native Plymouth.

They were all about 9 years old, and DeCrow asked the others if there were any good fishing spots nearby, Wallace recalled this week. "No, this is our lake," Wallace said in an effort to scare DeCrow off.

But DeCrow was undeterred, and in a friendly voice thanked Wallace and introduced himself: "My name is Justin."

"From then on, we were friends," Wallace said. "You couldn't intimidate him, because he always saw the good in people."

DeCrow, 32, never lost that easygoing, friendly nature, which he coupled with a robust sense of humor to earn the admiration of friends, family and comrades, according to interviews and online tributes. The Army staff sergeant died in last week's shootings at Fort Hood.

DeCrow was married with a 13-year-old daughter, Kylah.

"His infectious charm and wit always put others at ease," his wife, Marikay DeCrow, said in a statement issued by the Army.

In recent years, DeCrow lived with his family in Evans, Ga., near Fort Gordon, and was a satellite communications operator. He had earlier this year returned from a yearlong deployment to South Korea and had been at Fort Hood since September awaiting deployment to Iraq.

His mother, Rhonda Thompson, told The Washington Post that DeCrow had a bothersome case of sleep apnea and had requested a medical discharge. He hoped to move back to Evans and work as an Army contractor at Fort Gordon, she said.

DeCrow's father said he spoke to his son the week before his death.

"As usual, the last words out of my mouth to him were that I was proud of him," said Daniel DeCrow of Fulton, Ind. "That's what I said to him every time — that I loved him, and I was proud of what he was doing."

DeCrow grew up in Plymouth, about 100 miles southeast of Chicago. He graduated from Plymouth High School in 1996, married Marikay that spring and joined the Army in the summer.

He was assigned to Fort Gordon in 2000, where he eventually taught satellite communications classes.

"He's just one of those guys who no matter how bad a day you are having, he'd make you smile," said Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Schubert, a fellow instructor.

Some of his students were among the more than 350 people who had joined a Facebook tribute to DeCrow by Tuesday evening. One of them remembered how he'd make them yell "Here I am, rock you like a hurricane," during roll call, quoting a song by the Scorpions.

John Fry, 32, who taught at Fort Gordon with DeCrow while in the Navy, said DeCrow injected humor into any situation and was the type of person who sought the middle ground — and would never take sides — when a disagreement broke out.

"He was very easy to talk to," Fry said. "You know he wasn't going to judge you for anything."

Wallace, who now lives in Niles, Mich., said DeCrow lived "like a yellow Labrador. Just easygoing, loved everybody, easy to please, wanted to please everybody."
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