Clifton Park Couple Speaks About Son Killed in Iraq
Last Update: 10/3/2006 4:14:39 PM

For the first time, John and Karen McKenna are talking about their son, John – a young man they say lived and died trying to help other people.

Two months ago, the McKennas were in the process of moving from Brooklyn to Clifton Park to be near their daughter and son -- when they got the awful news that John had been killed in action.

They told Fox 23’s Walt McClure that their good memories of him, and the incredible support they have received since his passing, are helping them work through their grief.

Reminders of John McKenna IV are never far away in John and Karen McKenna's Clifton Park home.

Pictures, graduation certificates, his state trooper Stetson -- all sit in places of honor.

On Karen McKenna's wrist, a silver bracelet inscribed with her son's name and the date he was killed in Iraq -- doing what he felt was his duty.

John McKenna/Father: “He was just trying to give them a little peace, even for a day. He would go and sit and have tea with a family and that night he would walk by the same house and some people would, not from the same house, but some people would be shooting at him.”

That's what happened on August 16th -- when McKenna was hit by sniper fire trying to pull a wounded fellow Marine to safety.

Karen McKenna/Mother: “He just always stopped to help. It didn't matter who the person was, whether he knew them or not. He was a great believer in the philosophy of paying it forward.”

John and Karen say from the moment they found out their only son was dead, they have been surrounded by support from the Marines and the Troopers and total strangers -- like people along the funeral route from Brooklyn to Stillwater.

Karen McKenna: “Seeing people on the bridges -- I remember one little girl on a front lawn, she was maybe 5, 6 years old with an American flag. It was a tremendous amount of support.”

Some of that support also came from someone whose family the McKennas must now offer sympathy to.

John McKenna: “The irony of the whole situation is that one of the troopers that came here to console us was Joey Longobardo.}

Joseph Longobardo and John McKenna are buried just a few feet from each other at Saratoga National Cemetery.

The McKennas attended Longobardo’s funeral, and hope to get a chance to talk more to his widow Teri at a survivors’ event put on by the State Police later this month.

John McKenna says his son did not have to go back to Iraq -- he had already served there once and also in Afghanistan -- but he said he wanted to go back because he felt that the marines he had trained needed him there -- and he felt the people of Iraq needed him as well.

Ellie