thedrifter
08-09-06, 06:37 PM
Taunton war hero dies in car crash
By Maureen Boyle, Enterprise staff writer
TAUNTON — Dianne Kaemmerer was puzzled when she saw the U.S. Marines on her doorstep Tuesday.
Her 23-year-old Marine Corps son — her only child — had wrapped up a tour in Iraq last year, won a writing award for his chilling recounting of a battle in Fallujah, and most recently was stationed at a base in Quantico, Va.
“I looked at the guys at the door yesterday and thought nothing of it,” she said this morning.
“That's the way they do it in the movies but I thought, 'He's home and safe. He made it OK. I opened the door and said, 'Come on in, what can I help you with?”
Then the Marines broke the news.
Her son, Travis Kaemmerer, was dead, killed in a highway crash in Lorton, Va., Monday night.
“He made it through,” his mother said. “This wasn't supposed to happen.”
Kaemmerer was killed when the car he was driving on Interstate 95 left the road and crashed into a box truck on the left shoulder Monday at 10:05 p.m., state police said. His Ford Mustang then hit three other vehicles. Kaemmerer, who was partly thrown from the vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene.
What caused Kaemmerer to leave the road remained under investigation.
Kaemmerer, a Taunton High School graduate, served seven months in Iraq and was set to wrap up his military service in January, his mother said.
Kaemmerer, a lance corporal, had been a combat correspondent attached to Company A, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment in Fallujah.
In that role, he wrote a first-person account in 2004 of the battle where a dying Sgt. Rafael Peralta, 25, a platoon scout, rolled onto a live grenade to save fellow Marines. He was honored by the Department of Defense for his article on that battle.
Today, Kaemmerer's mother planned to spend the morning visiting those close to her son to tell them he was dead.
And then she was to meet with Marines as she prepares his funeral.
“He made it through” combat duty, she said. “He came back. It wasn't supposed to happen like this.”
Ellie
By Maureen Boyle, Enterprise staff writer
TAUNTON — Dianne Kaemmerer was puzzled when she saw the U.S. Marines on her doorstep Tuesday.
Her 23-year-old Marine Corps son — her only child — had wrapped up a tour in Iraq last year, won a writing award for his chilling recounting of a battle in Fallujah, and most recently was stationed at a base in Quantico, Va.
“I looked at the guys at the door yesterday and thought nothing of it,” she said this morning.
“That's the way they do it in the movies but I thought, 'He's home and safe. He made it OK. I opened the door and said, 'Come on in, what can I help you with?”
Then the Marines broke the news.
Her son, Travis Kaemmerer, was dead, killed in a highway crash in Lorton, Va., Monday night.
“He made it through,” his mother said. “This wasn't supposed to happen.”
Kaemmerer was killed when the car he was driving on Interstate 95 left the road and crashed into a box truck on the left shoulder Monday at 10:05 p.m., state police said. His Ford Mustang then hit three other vehicles. Kaemmerer, who was partly thrown from the vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene.
What caused Kaemmerer to leave the road remained under investigation.
Kaemmerer, a Taunton High School graduate, served seven months in Iraq and was set to wrap up his military service in January, his mother said.
Kaemmerer, a lance corporal, had been a combat correspondent attached to Company A, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment in Fallujah.
In that role, he wrote a first-person account in 2004 of the battle where a dying Sgt. Rafael Peralta, 25, a platoon scout, rolled onto a live grenade to save fellow Marines. He was honored by the Department of Defense for his article on that battle.
Today, Kaemmerer's mother planned to spend the morning visiting those close to her son to tell them he was dead.
And then she was to meet with Marines as she prepares his funeral.
“He made it through” combat duty, she said. “He came back. It wasn't supposed to happen like this.”
Ellie