Meadow's was a tailor's apprentice hospital orderly after leaving Bok Vocational High School. He entered the Marine Corps in June 1968, arrived in Vietnam two days before Christmas in 1968, and was assigned to Company E of the 2nd Battalion, 26th Marines, 9th, Marine-rifle Amphibious Brigade. Meadows died on May 18, 1969, aboard the hospital ship USS Sanctuary as the result of wounds suffered in Quang Nam Province late during the previous month. The 21-year-old private first class was survived by his parents, a brother and two sisters.