1LT Robert F. Welch III was a 2003 graduate of Wylie High School. He spent his entire academic career in Wylie, starting in kindergarten at Akin Elementary and ending at WHS. He was a star football player for the Wylie High School Pirates and participated in various other activities including JROTC, soccer, baseball, band, FFA, Student Council, Texana Living History, and the Boy Scouts. Rob had a strong faith in God and lived by Phil. 4:13. He was hard working, determined, funny, generous, kind, and always took the time to reach out to help others.

 

Rob’s dream was always to be a soldier. He joined the Texas Army National Guard in 2005 and eventually received his Commission into the United States Army upon his graduation from the University of Texas at Arlington in December of 2008. Rob was an Ordnance officer assigned to Bravo Company, 201st Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Task Force Duke. He attended the Ordnance Officer Basic Course at Fort Lee, Virginia and arrived at Fort Knox, Kentucky in 2009. He was deployed to Afghanistan in January of 2011 and lost his life a few months later on April 3rd from wounds sustained when a mortar shell landed near him while he was on duty on the Forward Operating Base Salerno in the Khost Province near the Pakistani border.

 

His awards include the Army Achievement Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon. He has also been awarded the NATO Medal, Combat Action Badge, Bronze Star Medal, and the Purple Heart.

 

1LT Welch was survived by his wife, Becky, and two sons, Robby and Aaden.

 

Becky Welch