Enfield Recalls A 19-Year-Old Determined To Be A Marine (Philip A. Johnson)

ENFIELD -- A 19-year-old Marine from Enfield was killed Saturday morning in Iraq when a roadside bomb detonated as his unit traveled from Ramadi to Habina, a family friend said Monday.

Lance Cpl. Philip A. Johnson's parents, Louis and Kathy Johnson, learned of his death Sunday evening when a Marine Corps casualty assistance team visited their Few Street home.

Word of the young Marine's death spread quickly in Enfield, where Johnson, a 2005 Enfield High School graduate, was remembered Monday as a "focused and thoughtful" young man whose dream since childhood was to become a Marine.

"He was hell-bent on being a Marine," said Ron Jackman of Longmeadow, Mass., a family friend who was serving as the Johnson family spokesman. "When he found out he was going to Iraq, he was hell-bent on going. He had no fear whatsoever."

The Marines declined to comment about Johnson until the Department of Defense formally announces his death. There have been 33 servicemen and civilians with Connecticut ties who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002.

Read the rest at the Hartford Courant

Related Link:
Enfield Marine Killed in Iraq