Derwin Williams was due back from Afghanistan with his Illinois Army National Guard Unit in August and was already training the troops that would replace them, his wife Felicia said Tuesday afternoon.
And he couldn't wait to see his girls, ages 9, 18 and 22. He was a devoted father, and this was his second deployment during his 16 years with the guard. He served in Iraq in 2004.
But Monday night, one of the girls told her mother that two soldiers were at the front door of the family's Glenwood home.
"I just knew then," Felicia Williams said.
Derwin Williams, 41, died Monday morning after a road bomb hit his vehicle, killing him and the three other soldiers riding with him.
Felicia said she last spoke to her husband on Saturday, when the two were making plans for his homecoming. Now, she'll fly to Dover, Del., to meet his body as it comes off a military plane.
