
PHOENIX — Spc. Nicholas Eugene Wilson, who died last week in Iraq, could never settle for a job in a calm environment, his mother said Monday.
“Ever since (the movie) ‘Twister,’ he’s always wanted to chase tornados,” said Wilson’s mother, Debbie Newhouse. “He always wanted to learn the hard way. He always went for the gusto in life.”
Wilson, 21, of Glendale, died Friday in Ramadi, Iraq, when his Humvee rolled into a water-filled ditch after the shoulder of the road he was on collapsed, the military said.
He was a member of the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division based at Camp Casey, South Korea.
Wilson enlisted in the Army in February 2003.
“My husband, Ray, would always tell him about war stories in Vietnam and the Gulf War,” Newhouse said. “It was something he (Wilson) wanted to do. He wanted...