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thedrifter
11-29-08, 07:32 AM
Marine returns home a changed man

By MATT COUGHLIN
Bucks County Courier Times

There was a time when Linda Hadley worried how her son’s life would turn out. Kevin was dealing drugs, in a gang of troubled youths and was the usual suspect with police. But now the single mom has a lot to be thankful for. And proud of. Shortly after midnight Wednesday morning Lance Cpl. Kevin Hadley walked through the front door of the family’s Red Cedar home in Bristol Township, hugged his mother, sister and woke up his grandmother Eva Hadley. The 2004 Truman High School graduate was home after seven months in Iraq with the 2nd Battalion. And he was a better man than the one who left for the Marines in 2007.

Hadley’s police record includes half dozen citations and a few juvenile arrests. Underage drinking, disorderly conduct, fighting, retail theft.

“Before the Marine Corps I was selling drugs, in a gang and going down the wrong path,” the 22-year-old Hadley said Wednesday. “I needed to do something with my life.”

Linda Hadley says he needed discipline. That’s why he picked the Marines.

“They’re the hardest. And the best,” he said.

Hadley went off to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina in 2007.

“Instead of being a scum bag, a bad person, I’m a good person, in the Marine Corps, fighting for my country and doing good,” Hadley said.

Hadley is proud of what the Marines have accomplished in Iraq. The machine gunner was deployed to Al Anbar where the unit patrolled and looked for insurgents, was posted to guard duty and tried to build a relationship with the Iraqis.

He said the experience has also helped him appreciate simple things.

“You can’t just walk around outside and you can’t see a girl walking and say

hello,” Hadley said.


Hadley also said he was impressed by the Iraqi people and their desire for freedom. He said the mission really was trying to help them stick up for themselves.

The 2nd Battalion came back almost two weeks ago and is undergoing reorientation classes at Camp Lejeune designed to help the Marines readjust to civilian life. Hadley still has a little more than two years left in his commitment. He said he hasn’t decided if he’ll stay after that. He might take advantage of the new GI bill.

Still, Hadley’s a little mischievous. Hitching a ride with a friend from New York, Hadley rode up from the base in North Carolina Wednesday and called his anxiously waiting family when he was a few blocks away.

“I told her we were stuck in traffic and we’d take about four more hours,” Hadley said. “But after I hung up I thought, nah, they’re all going to go to bed.”

He called back and told him mom he was two minutes away.

On Thursday, four generations of the family gathered for Thanksgiving dinner at the home Hadley has shared with his mother, sister and grandparents.

They had a lot to be thankful for. Grandmother Eva said she’s thankful they can all be together. Kevin said he’s thankful that his unit came back without losing a man. Thankful that he was able to help the Iraqi people. Thankful for his family and friends.

“I’m thankful for the way my son turned out,” Linda Hadley said. “And he’s come home healthy, safe and in one piece.”

Matt Coughlin can be reached at 215-949-4172 or mcoughlin@phillyBurbs.com.

Ellie