thedrifter
08-21-04, 10:31 AM
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Marine killed with only two weeks to go
By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Out in the rich wheat country of Eastern Washington, the war in Iraq cut through the heart of Mansfield's small community of 350 hard-working people this week.
It sliced, too, through the hearts of disadvantaged children, especially those with Child Help USA, when they heard that Caleb Powers, 21, a Marine Corps lance corporal, had been cut down by enemy fire in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, on Tuesday, two weeks before his tour was up.
Powers, who at 7 was cared for by the Virginia-based children's group until farming relatives in Mansfield adopted him five years later, was a virtual poster boy for the non-profit organization that helps abandoned children.
A resilient kid who appreciated where he had come from, Powers hoped to save his combat pay to one day buy a ranch in Mansfield. He dreamed of one day giving back to the organization that helped him by helping other children, such as the ones who swarmed over him when he visited, said Jay Cooper, a retired film-industry executive and former director of Variety Children's Charities in Beverly Hills, Calif., who had come to know Powers.
"He was our poster Marine, just an amazing young man, a fine, inspirational young man who loved life," said Cooper, who met Powers when the latter was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif. "He loved children and wanted to help because he was a product of Child Help USA."
From a youngster with attention-deficit disorder who had nearly nothing in childhood, Powers eventually came to have almost everything. His range of admirers extended from his loving family and friends to abandoned children, and to a roomful of 2,000 international celebrities who stood to applaud him two years ago at a Hollywood fund-raiser for children's groups, Cooper said. Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, sat with him. Singer Lee Greenwood dedicated a song to him. The cast from the television show "Seventh Heaven" took him under their wing, Cooper said.
"He was certainly popular with his fellow Marines in Iraq, because he was getting teddy bears from Jessica Simpson" to help disadvantaged Iraqi children, Cooper said.
As a child, Powers' own words about his life were recorded in "Silence Broken," a book about Child Help USA, the organization begun in the 1950s to help displaced Japanese children, but which expanded to help other youth.
It was in Washington state's heartland, however, that the loss of his cheery words struck home.
In Mansfield, they'd seen Powers leave his farming chores to scramble down to the football field to play eight-man high school football in working boots. His teammates nicknamed him "Chippewa" for the brand name of the footwear.
Yesterday, the community wrapped its callused hands in a gentle embrace around Powers' family, especially his sister, Rosanna. Herself a Marine and living on the East Coast, Rosanna Powers learned yesterday that her fiance, another Marine, also was killed in Iraq.
"Caleb died Tuesday; his sister's fiance died this morning. Two tragedies in one family; she really has the pain to go through," said Patty Hanson, a cousin, who was filling in for a friend at the Town Bar & Grill yesterday.
In a town where the school system totals 90 this year, and Powers was one of 11 in Mansfield High School's Class of 2001, the tragedies "went through the town like wildfire," said Renee Bayless. Her husband, Ric Bayless, is pastor of United Protestant Church of Mansfield, a high school football coach and was one of Powers' school teachers.
Mansfield businesses yesterday talked of shutting down for a memorial service at the high school gym next Friday. Already, the Mansfield Booster Club plans donations to buy a flagpole for the football field, with a plaque in Powers' memory.
A memorial fund was set up at the Wells Fargo Bank branch to collect money to bring home his sister, Bayless said.
Mansfield's Chamber of Commerce, which boasts the community is "the town at the end of the rails," in reference to when the railroad went through town, yesterday topped its Web site with Powers' photo and a message:
"Caleb was one of three soldiers from Mansfield who are currently serving in Iraq. He is the first Mansfield soldier to be killed in action since before World War II. When a tragedy like this occurs in such a small town, it hits and it hits hard, affecting everyone."
Powers was a rifleman with his Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based unit, the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, when he was felled by enemy gunfire Tuesday. His unit is garrisoned in Ramadi, 40 miles from Fallujah, scene of fierce fighting.
Powers enlisted in the Marines on June 11, 2001, right after graduation. Those who knew him said he always wanted to be a Marine. As the years went by, he grew closer to his birth mother.
Often Powers phoned family and friends from Iraq to stay in touch, usually cheerful, often exhausting his phone card and begging another off fellow Marines to complete the call.
Bayless, the pastor, said there's an attempt afoot to try to have him buried at Arlington National Cemetery, across from the nation's capital and in the state in which he found help as a child.
Those in the town he planned to make home, however, believe Mansfield is the best place to lay him to rest.
"It's beautiful when the wheat is ready out here," said Renee Bayless. "It's really amber waves of grain."
P-I reporter Mike Barber can be reached at 206-448-8018 or mikebarber@seattlepi.com
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/187364_wardead21.html
Ellie
Rest In Peace
Marine killed with only two weeks to go
By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Out in the rich wheat country of Eastern Washington, the war in Iraq cut through the heart of Mansfield's small community of 350 hard-working people this week.
It sliced, too, through the hearts of disadvantaged children, especially those with Child Help USA, when they heard that Caleb Powers, 21, a Marine Corps lance corporal, had been cut down by enemy fire in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, on Tuesday, two weeks before his tour was up.
Powers, who at 7 was cared for by the Virginia-based children's group until farming relatives in Mansfield adopted him five years later, was a virtual poster boy for the non-profit organization that helps abandoned children.
A resilient kid who appreciated where he had come from, Powers hoped to save his combat pay to one day buy a ranch in Mansfield. He dreamed of one day giving back to the organization that helped him by helping other children, such as the ones who swarmed over him when he visited, said Jay Cooper, a retired film-industry executive and former director of Variety Children's Charities in Beverly Hills, Calif., who had come to know Powers.
"He was our poster Marine, just an amazing young man, a fine, inspirational young man who loved life," said Cooper, who met Powers when the latter was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif. "He loved children and wanted to help because he was a product of Child Help USA."
From a youngster with attention-deficit disorder who had nearly nothing in childhood, Powers eventually came to have almost everything. His range of admirers extended from his loving family and friends to abandoned children, and to a roomful of 2,000 international celebrities who stood to applaud him two years ago at a Hollywood fund-raiser for children's groups, Cooper said. Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, sat with him. Singer Lee Greenwood dedicated a song to him. The cast from the television show "Seventh Heaven" took him under their wing, Cooper said.
"He was certainly popular with his fellow Marines in Iraq, because he was getting teddy bears from Jessica Simpson" to help disadvantaged Iraqi children, Cooper said.
As a child, Powers' own words about his life were recorded in "Silence Broken," a book about Child Help USA, the organization begun in the 1950s to help displaced Japanese children, but which expanded to help other youth.
It was in Washington state's heartland, however, that the loss of his cheery words struck home.
In Mansfield, they'd seen Powers leave his farming chores to scramble down to the football field to play eight-man high school football in working boots. His teammates nicknamed him "Chippewa" for the brand name of the footwear.
Yesterday, the community wrapped its callused hands in a gentle embrace around Powers' family, especially his sister, Rosanna. Herself a Marine and living on the East Coast, Rosanna Powers learned yesterday that her fiance, another Marine, also was killed in Iraq.
"Caleb died Tuesday; his sister's fiance died this morning. Two tragedies in one family; she really has the pain to go through," said Patty Hanson, a cousin, who was filling in for a friend at the Town Bar & Grill yesterday.
In a town where the school system totals 90 this year, and Powers was one of 11 in Mansfield High School's Class of 2001, the tragedies "went through the town like wildfire," said Renee Bayless. Her husband, Ric Bayless, is pastor of United Protestant Church of Mansfield, a high school football coach and was one of Powers' school teachers.
Mansfield businesses yesterday talked of shutting down for a memorial service at the high school gym next Friday. Already, the Mansfield Booster Club plans donations to buy a flagpole for the football field, with a plaque in Powers' memory.
A memorial fund was set up at the Wells Fargo Bank branch to collect money to bring home his sister, Bayless said.
Mansfield's Chamber of Commerce, which boasts the community is "the town at the end of the rails," in reference to when the railroad went through town, yesterday topped its Web site with Powers' photo and a message:
"Caleb was one of three soldiers from Mansfield who are currently serving in Iraq. He is the first Mansfield soldier to be killed in action since before World War II. When a tragedy like this occurs in such a small town, it hits and it hits hard, affecting everyone."
Powers was a rifleman with his Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based unit, the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, when he was felled by enemy gunfire Tuesday. His unit is garrisoned in Ramadi, 40 miles from Fallujah, scene of fierce fighting.
Powers enlisted in the Marines on June 11, 2001, right after graduation. Those who knew him said he always wanted to be a Marine. As the years went by, he grew closer to his birth mother.
Often Powers phoned family and friends from Iraq to stay in touch, usually cheerful, often exhausting his phone card and begging another off fellow Marines to complete the call.
Bayless, the pastor, said there's an attempt afoot to try to have him buried at Arlington National Cemetery, across from the nation's capital and in the state in which he found help as a child.
Those in the town he planned to make home, however, believe Mansfield is the best place to lay him to rest.
"It's beautiful when the wheat is ready out here," said Renee Bayless. "It's really amber waves of grain."
P-I reporter Mike Barber can be reached at 206-448-8018 or mikebarber@seattlepi.com
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/187364_wardead21.html
Ellie
Rest In Peace