thedrifter
07-20-04, 09:41 PM
Flags go to half-staff for Kelly
Tuesday, July 20, 2004 5:22 PM PDT
Published July 20, 2004
Combined local, wire reports
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Monday asked that flags at public institutions in the state be flown at half-staff today in remembrance of Bryan P. Kelly of Klamath Falls.
Lance Cpl. Kelly died Thursday due to injuries received from enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.
"Lance Corporal Kelly's bravery, commitment and sacrifice will not be forgotten," Kulongoski said in a statement issued Monday. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and the many other families who still have loved ones away at war."
At a Klamath County commissioner meeting today, Commissioner John Elliott also encouraged residents to lower their flags to half-staff to honor Kelly.
Kelly was assigned to the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
As of Monday, 890 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq in March 2003, according to the Defense Department. Of those, 658 died as a result of hostile action and 232 died of non-hostile causes.
The British military has reported 60 deaths; Italy, 18; Spain, eight; Bulgaria and Poland, six each; Ukraine, four; Slovakia, three; Thailand, two; Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia and the Netherlands have reported one death each.
http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2004/07/20/news/top_stories/top1.txt
Ellie
thedrifter
07-20-04, 09:44 PM
Marine enlisted after 9/11 attacks
Published July 19, 2004
By MARCIA McGONIGLE
Joani Kelly couldn't stop screaming when she saw the Marines pull up to her house.
She knew her baby boy, the boy who just got engaged, the boy who volunteered as a firefighter, the boy who excelled at everything and never knew an enemy, was dead.
But she also knew he died doing what he needed to do.
Lance Cpl. Bryan Kelly, 21, was killed Thursday in Iraq.
The Marines who came to Joani and Patrick Kelly's home Friday said that Bryan was killed in action during an explosion near Baghdad. The Klamath Union High School graduate worked as a combat engineer and was in his second tour of duty in Iraq.
Extended family and friends have filled the Kelly house since the news of Bryan's death.
Tears flow. So do the stories.
"Families in these circumstances tend to make saints of their kids," Patrick Kelly said. "We don't have to. You couldn't ask for a better son."
The family is planning a community memorial service, perhaps at Klamath Union High School's Pelican Court. Family members also will have a private service.
Joani Kelly still remembers how angry Bryan was when terrorists attacked New York City and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001.
It was the fall after Bryan graduated from Klamath Union High School. He was working as a volunteer firefighter with the Stewart Lenox department, and he aspired to be a firefighter.
But, after the attacks, he decided there was something else he had to do first.
In June 2002, at the age of 19, he joined the Marines.
When Bryan approached his parents about his decision, they were supportive.
"I told him it was a good thing to do," said Patrick Kelly, a retired sheriff's detective who now manages the Gull Station at South Sixth Street and Washburn Way. "If I had it to do all over again, I'd tell him the same thing."
"He was pretty upset after 9-11, and he felt like he needed to do this," Joani Kelly said. "He was very proud to be a Marine. He wore his uniform with great honor."
In 2003, he graduated with honors from the Marine Corps Basic Combat Engineer Course. He was trained in explosives, specifically the demolition of explosives.
He did his first tour in Iraq from March to September 2003. He was home for Thanksgiving and Christmas and then left Feb. 27, 2004, to return to the war as a combat engineer in the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regime.
His parents said Bryan had mixed feelings about returning to Iraq because he wanted to stay home with his fiancee and get married.
"He felt good about why he was there, and he was proud of what he was doing," Joani Kelly said.
In Iraq, he was stationed near Fallujah during intense fighting and then returned to a base camp near Al Mahnudiayah on the outskirts of Baghdad. His daily duties included patrolling the roads and performing ordnance sweeps, blowing up mines and rocket-propelled grenades.
In his last conversation with his parents - a 20-minute call that was the longest he had been able to make since he had left - Bryan told them he was e-mailing pictures and that he would be home Oct. 1.
The 6-foot, 185-pound Marine was the baby of the Kelly family. Born three months premature, at 3 pounds, 7 ounces, he fit into the palm of his father's hand.
From an early age, he talked of being a firefighter.
His parents realized how serious he was when at the age of 8, he came home from a bicycle ride with a Polaroid photo taken of himself and a friend, Mark Shae, atop a fire engine and wearing fire hats . The two friends, they realized, had probably visited every station in town.
Bryan also pretended to be an Army commando, and with his cousin Julie ran around his neighborhood, often getting yelled at when they hopped fences into other people's backyards.
In grade school, he performed in community theater and helped his mother, who directed and was a stage manager. He was close to his father, "Pops," and at the age of 16, joined the Police Explorers. He also started going out on ambulance calls with the Stewart Lenox volunteer fire department. At 18, he earned certification to be a volunteer firefighter and was allowed to fight fires as well.
"He focused on the right track. He never took steps back. He always took steps forward," said David Kelly, Bryan's oldest brother. "Usually the older brother is the one who is supposed to give the guidance to the younger kids. That's not the case here."
David then recalled how Bryan encouraged him in his career as a wildland firefighter.
"I look up to Bryan because he's an incredible kid," he said. "He had so much to offer so many people."
Bryan attended Klamath Union High School, graduating in 2001. He got good grades and spent two years on the school's basketball team. He also enjoyed roller hockey.
But he spent much of his time focusing on the Police Explorer program and firefighting. He earned training certificates in hazardous materials and confined spaces and was a firefighter I. His latest plans included being an instructor for the Department of Public Safety.
"He didn't think twice about going to the fire station," said Sean, the Kellys' middle son, who is studying theatrical arts in Ashland. "He didn't think about the danger. He's one of the most courageous people I've ever known."
Kate Huntsman, Bryan's fiancee, met him at Skateland when she was 11. The two became friends and dated occasionally when they got older. The day after Thanksgiving, Bryan asked Kate's parents for her hand in marriage, and then he asked Kate. They were to be married Nov. 27.
"Bryan was one of a kind," Kate said through tears Sunday night. "He supported me. He had a great love for me, his friends and his family, and most of all his country. We'll miss him as long as we walk the Earth."
Bryan e-mailed a photograph home to Kate on her 19th birthday. In it are Bryan and members of this platoon holding a cardboard sign with the words "Happy Birthday Kate!"
"I feel like the only thing I can do now is to let him know how much we love him," she said.
Parents of Chris Binkley, one of Bryan's Marine buddies, arrived Sunday with a framed painting done in the aftermath of 9-11. Titled "A prayer for my brother," it is a print of two firefighters. On it the artist inscribed, "In memory of Bryan Kelly, with our deepest gratitude for your sacrifice for each of us."
Binkley will be escorting Bryan's body back to the United States.
On the living room floor, 5-year-old Tiahna Kelly was coloring her own picture for her Uncle Bryan. She had a small framed photo of Bryan in his uniform next to the paper.
"I'm drawing a picture for Uncle Bryan," she said. "Here's Uncle Bryan. He's the angel. And here's Uncle Bryan's grave."
At Suburban Baptist Church Sunday, where the Kellys attend services, a photograph of Bryan was in a black frame, draped with ribbons. His was one of five photographs of military members who were serving in the Iraqi war. The other four have returned to the United States.
Bryan accepted God into his life at the age of 14, Joani Kelly said, and his faith was strong.
That faith kept his family strong while he was in harm's way.
"It's hard not to be afraid when you know what's going on over there," she said.
Patrick Kelly said the family has prayed for Bryan's safety and the safety of all the men and women in Iraq, since the war began. And that isn't going to stop.
"Right now, we're not even slowing down our prayers. We're still praying for each of them."
http://www.heraldandnews.com/content/articles/2004/07/19/news/top_stories/atop1.jpg
http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2004/07/19/news/top_stories/atop1.txt
Ellie
Rest In Peace
HardJedi
07-20-04, 09:55 PM
Semper Fi, Brother.
Rest in Peace.
JAMarine
07-21-04, 02:33 AM
What a Damn Shame. What a Shame this young man, this young Marine had to die. For What?
God Bless you Young Kelly and God Bless your Family and your fiancee Kate.
What A Damn Shame