Kimberly Hampton
Captain Kimberly Nicole Hampton (August 18, 1976 in Greenville, South Carolina – January 2, 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq) was a graduate of Easley High School and Presbyterian College. Her home was in Easley, South Carolina, where she grew up. Kimberly was 27 years old when she died. She was a Captain in the U.S. Army, Commander of Delta Troop, 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. Hampton died in the Iraq War when the Kiowa Warrior OH58-D armed observation helicopter she was flying was shot down in Fallujah. She was the first female military pilot to be shot down and killed by the enemy fire in US history (having been preceded in death my Maj. Marie Therese Rossi whose helicopter crashed in Saudia Arabia supporting Operation Desert Strom on March 1, 1991). The public library in her hometown of Easley is named in her honor.