thedrifter
06-25-05, 08:15 AM
Two peas in a pod
By E.J. Perkins
azcentral.com
As fate would have it, Quinn Keith and Joseph McCarthy were, in so many ways, like two proverbial peas in a pod.
Both grew up in small town Arizona.
Both were wrestlers in high school.
Both were jokesters who reveled in making people laugh.
Both were extraordinarily big-hearted.
Both had a strong, instinctive affinity for children.
Both sought to escape the perceived insipidity of rural life.
Both were long interested in military service before volunteering.
Both joined the Marines right after high school.
Both became infantry riflemen, or "grunts."
Both rose to the rank of lance corporal.
Both were members of the same rifle company.
Both deployed together to Iraq in March 2004.
Both were due to complete their combat tour in three weeks.
Both were killed at the same moment and place near Fallujah.
And both were only 21-years-old.
To be sure, Keith and McCarthy were distinct individuals who led unique lives.
Quinn Keith, a Navajo, and a member of the Towering House and Bitter Water clans, grew up along the hardscrabble Utah-Arizona border. Joseph McCarthy grew up in the quiet hill country between the Pinyon-ringed towns of St. John and Snowflake in eastern Arizona.
Quinn and his younger three brothers were the sons of divorced parents. His uncle and legal guardian, Clyde Keith of Page, Ariz., said Quinn had a troubled youth.
Raised by his paternal mother and father, Joe and his two sisters appear to have had normal, happy childhoods.
Quinn's quiet demeanor stood in contrast to his penchant for understated humor. "He was always smiling and making people laugh," said Joey Hatahle, a friend. Tana Shumway, a former classmate, told the Farmington Daily Times, "He was nice. Just being himself, he was cool."
The gregarious Joe quickly earned a reputation as the class clown in school. Once he showed up in a Cat in a Hat costume for a kindergarten reading class, recalled his grandmother, Paula Johnson. Joe delighted in playing the role of the jokester and his antics seemed boundless. "You couldn't beat that kid's personality," said a close relative.
Despite his small stature, Quinn eagerly embraced intramural wrestling at Page High School. Though a second-stringer, he displayed a lot of heart, his uncle Clyde said. "In one competition, when a first-string wrestler couldn't participate, Quinn stepped up and was victorious," Clyde told the Arizona Republic. Joe, too, loved the competition of high school sports and was an enthusiastic member of both the wrestling and football teams.
Both boys graduated from high school only months before the events of Sept. 11. But even before that national trauma, Quinn and Joe had dreamed about joining the Marine Corps. Each knew it offered a way out of the confines of their small town existence.
When Quinn expressed interest in the Marines, his uncle Clyde was impressed. "We told him that was a good decision. Serve his country, and his country would look out for him and his family," he said. Quinn enlisted in the Marines shortly after high school. Joe, in contrast, was so eager to enlist that he filed the paperwork before his graduation. Joe enlisted two days after Sept. 11.
By September 2004, Quinn and Joe found themselves in the harsh desert province of Al Anbar, home of the violent towns of Ramadi and Fallujah, and a regional hotbed of insurgent activity. Along with 150 other Marines, the two Arizonans were members of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. Having proven their mettle, both Marines now held the rank of lance corporal.
Of Quinn's exploits as a combat Marine in Iraq, we know little. We do know that he kept his interest in wrestling alive. Even after Marine training bulked him up to 135 pounds, there was no getting around the fact that he still only stood at 5-foot-6. Nevertheless, he had recently taken on "a much bigger opponent in a wrestling match in Iraq and, after a 30-minute struggle, came out on top," his uncle told the Arizona Republic. Quinn, it seems, still had "a lot of heart."
As for the experience of war itself, Quinn's uncle said only, "He was scared to be there, but he knew he had to be there."
Joe, on the other hand, became something of a celebrity.
On April 22, 2004, two Iraqi children approached Joe at a military checkpoint west of Fallujah. He slung his automatic rifle on a shoulder, knelt on the dirt road, smiled, and promptly went into class clown mode to put the kids - and the Iraqi adults standing nearly - at ease. It worked, and soon there were smiles all around. As Joe handed the children some chocolate candy, Hayne Palmour, an embedded reporter from the North County Times, snapped a photo and fortuitously captured the moment.
Within days, the photograph appeared in newspapers across America and likely brought a smile to the thousands who saw it. "Hearts and minds, gents. Hearts and minds," Joe reportedly told his fellow Marines with a swagger as he parted with the happy Iraqi children. After that, his buddies nicknamed Joe "Willie Wonka" for his trademark generosity.
Even in the darkest hours of combat, "Willie Wonka" never lost his poise or sense of humor. During one day of heavy fighting in Fallujah, Joe scrambled into a dirt bunker to hunker down with several buddies. As the Marines fought the heat, swatted at the flies and avoided the sights of an enemy sniper, Joe "managed to unearth laughter with antics, tapping into his fellow Marines' reserve of humor on a tough day of violence," reported North County Times journalist Darrin Mortenson.
But on Labor Day, Sept. 6, luck ran out for Quinn and Joe.
While patrolling a dusty suburb of Fallujah, an insurgent attacker detonated a car bomb near their Humvee vehicles, killing both men and five other Marines. It was the largest U.S. death toll in the region since the preceding April.
Quinn, Joe and the other fallen Marines of Fox Company were only three weeks from the end of their combat tour.
Despite their youth, both Marines instinctively understood and accepted the higher calling of duty in time of war. Quinn was aware that surviving Iraq amounted to a roll of the dice. But he quelled his fear because he "knew he had to be there." In a like mind, Joe told his mother, "Mom, this is where I belong."
Like two peas in a pod.
Ellie
By E.J. Perkins
azcentral.com
As fate would have it, Quinn Keith and Joseph McCarthy were, in so many ways, like two proverbial peas in a pod.
Both grew up in small town Arizona.
Both were wrestlers in high school.
Both were jokesters who reveled in making people laugh.
Both were extraordinarily big-hearted.
Both had a strong, instinctive affinity for children.
Both sought to escape the perceived insipidity of rural life.
Both were long interested in military service before volunteering.
Both joined the Marines right after high school.
Both became infantry riflemen, or "grunts."
Both rose to the rank of lance corporal.
Both were members of the same rifle company.
Both deployed together to Iraq in March 2004.
Both were due to complete their combat tour in three weeks.
Both were killed at the same moment and place near Fallujah.
And both were only 21-years-old.
To be sure, Keith and McCarthy were distinct individuals who led unique lives.
Quinn Keith, a Navajo, and a member of the Towering House and Bitter Water clans, grew up along the hardscrabble Utah-Arizona border. Joseph McCarthy grew up in the quiet hill country between the Pinyon-ringed towns of St. John and Snowflake in eastern Arizona.
Quinn and his younger three brothers were the sons of divorced parents. His uncle and legal guardian, Clyde Keith of Page, Ariz., said Quinn had a troubled youth.
Raised by his paternal mother and father, Joe and his two sisters appear to have had normal, happy childhoods.
Quinn's quiet demeanor stood in contrast to his penchant for understated humor. "He was always smiling and making people laugh," said Joey Hatahle, a friend. Tana Shumway, a former classmate, told the Farmington Daily Times, "He was nice. Just being himself, he was cool."
The gregarious Joe quickly earned a reputation as the class clown in school. Once he showed up in a Cat in a Hat costume for a kindergarten reading class, recalled his grandmother, Paula Johnson. Joe delighted in playing the role of the jokester and his antics seemed boundless. "You couldn't beat that kid's personality," said a close relative.
Despite his small stature, Quinn eagerly embraced intramural wrestling at Page High School. Though a second-stringer, he displayed a lot of heart, his uncle Clyde said. "In one competition, when a first-string wrestler couldn't participate, Quinn stepped up and was victorious," Clyde told the Arizona Republic. Joe, too, loved the competition of high school sports and was an enthusiastic member of both the wrestling and football teams.
Both boys graduated from high school only months before the events of Sept. 11. But even before that national trauma, Quinn and Joe had dreamed about joining the Marine Corps. Each knew it offered a way out of the confines of their small town existence.
When Quinn expressed interest in the Marines, his uncle Clyde was impressed. "We told him that was a good decision. Serve his country, and his country would look out for him and his family," he said. Quinn enlisted in the Marines shortly after high school. Joe, in contrast, was so eager to enlist that he filed the paperwork before his graduation. Joe enlisted two days after Sept. 11.
By September 2004, Quinn and Joe found themselves in the harsh desert province of Al Anbar, home of the violent towns of Ramadi and Fallujah, and a regional hotbed of insurgent activity. Along with 150 other Marines, the two Arizonans were members of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. Having proven their mettle, both Marines now held the rank of lance corporal.
Of Quinn's exploits as a combat Marine in Iraq, we know little. We do know that he kept his interest in wrestling alive. Even after Marine training bulked him up to 135 pounds, there was no getting around the fact that he still only stood at 5-foot-6. Nevertheless, he had recently taken on "a much bigger opponent in a wrestling match in Iraq and, after a 30-minute struggle, came out on top," his uncle told the Arizona Republic. Quinn, it seems, still had "a lot of heart."
As for the experience of war itself, Quinn's uncle said only, "He was scared to be there, but he knew he had to be there."
Joe, on the other hand, became something of a celebrity.
On April 22, 2004, two Iraqi children approached Joe at a military checkpoint west of Fallujah. He slung his automatic rifle on a shoulder, knelt on the dirt road, smiled, and promptly went into class clown mode to put the kids - and the Iraqi adults standing nearly - at ease. It worked, and soon there were smiles all around. As Joe handed the children some chocolate candy, Hayne Palmour, an embedded reporter from the North County Times, snapped a photo and fortuitously captured the moment.
Within days, the photograph appeared in newspapers across America and likely brought a smile to the thousands who saw it. "Hearts and minds, gents. Hearts and minds," Joe reportedly told his fellow Marines with a swagger as he parted with the happy Iraqi children. After that, his buddies nicknamed Joe "Willie Wonka" for his trademark generosity.
Even in the darkest hours of combat, "Willie Wonka" never lost his poise or sense of humor. During one day of heavy fighting in Fallujah, Joe scrambled into a dirt bunker to hunker down with several buddies. As the Marines fought the heat, swatted at the flies and avoided the sights of an enemy sniper, Joe "managed to unearth laughter with antics, tapping into his fellow Marines' reserve of humor on a tough day of violence," reported North County Times journalist Darrin Mortenson.
But on Labor Day, Sept. 6, luck ran out for Quinn and Joe.
While patrolling a dusty suburb of Fallujah, an insurgent attacker detonated a car bomb near their Humvee vehicles, killing both men and five other Marines. It was the largest U.S. death toll in the region since the preceding April.
Quinn, Joe and the other fallen Marines of Fox Company were only three weeks from the end of their combat tour.
Despite their youth, both Marines instinctively understood and accepted the higher calling of duty in time of war. Quinn was aware that surviving Iraq amounted to a roll of the dice. But he quelled his fear because he "knew he had to be there." In a like mind, Joe told his mother, "Mom, this is where I belong."
Like two peas in a pod.
Ellie