Chief Warrant Officer Billie Jean Grinder
Born: August 9, 1984
Died: February 21, 2010 in Qayyarah, Iraq
Chief Warrant Officer Billie J. Grinder of Gallatin, Tennessee was a 2002 graduate of Smyrna High School. She was a tough, but girly tomboy who rode motorcycles and gave generously to the people in her life. She sported tattoos and liked going fast and doing things that other people might consider as dangerous. But Billie had absolutely no fear. Billie joined the Tennessee Army National Guard in July of 2002 at age 17 while still in high school. She became a pilot in 2007 after completing Warrant Officer School at Ft. Rucker, Alabama. She was deployed to Iraq for her first tour in June 2009 and she was scheduled to come home within two weeks. She was currently a Pilot-In-Command (PIC) for OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. Billie Jean died at age 25 in Qayyarah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when her OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter had a hard landing. She was preceded in death by father, Harold William Smith; maternal grandparents, Cathuel and Juan Galon Bowe; paternal grandparents, Robert and Joan Smith; and uncle, Woodford Bowe. She is survived by husband, Samuel, stepdaughters, Megan and Makayla, mother, Roxanne Davenport, stepfather, Billy Davenport, a sister, Melissa, brothers, James and Robbie among others.
Army
1st Squadron
230th Cavalry Regiment
Louisville, Tennessee
Burial is at Grinder Family Cemetery in Castalian Springs, Tennessee
The Chief Warrant Officer Billie Jean Grinder by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
