A Brooklyn U.S. Army sergeant who planned to marry the love of his life — a fellow soldier — died unexpectedly on Wednesday, his family and the military said.
Sgt. 1st Class Maitland Deweever Wilson, 38, died in Germany after suffering a stroke in Bahrain.
He had been stationed there as a cargo specialist with the 831st Transportation Battalion.
“Nobody could speak a bad word about him,” said his fiancée, Dawn Hawkins, 36.
“He cared for everybody. He never turned his back on anyone.”
Hawkins, who lived in Newport News, Va., with Wilson, said before getting the heartbreaking news, she had planned to fly to Bahrain on Monday to marry her fiancé of two years.
The two had been a couple for eight years and met one another serving in the military together.
Wilson grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant and attended CUNY but did not finish his degree.
He enlisted in the Army in August 2000 and had been on active duty for the past 17 years, with deployments in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.
He also served in a 2010 humanitarian assistance operation in Haiti.
“He was an awesome person,” said Hawkins, who enlisted in 2004 but is now medically discharged.
The U.S. Army said Wilson was stationed in Manama, Bahrain, at the time of his death.
He was supporting Operation Inherent Resolve.
The military action aims to wipe out potential threats posed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Hawkins said Wilson suffered the stroke nearly two weeks ago and was transported to Landstuhl, Germany, for medical treatment.
His mother had flown to Germany to be with him.
Hawkins said she and Wilson’s family were in shock over his death.
“I just knew he was suffering from really bad headaches,” she said of his condition before the stroke.
The Army said Wilson’s death was under investigation.
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