Courtland Kennard killed by I.E.D.

Until Thursday, the war in Iraq appeared to be a distant conflict that didn't have much impact on Helen Kennard's life.

Then she got a call that her cousin, Army Sgt. Courtland A. Kennard, had been killed near Baghdad.

Courtland Kennard, 22, of Starkville and Staff Sgt. Gregory McCoy, 26, of Webberville, Mich., were killed last week when an improvised explosive device exploded near their vehicle, the Defense Department said Monday. They were assigned to the Army's 410th Military Police Company, 720th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade based out of Fort Hood, Texas.

"You hear about the war, about the people being killed, but when it's someone, a child you watched come up and play and do all the normal things a child does and this child is no longer, it really hurts," Helen Kennard said. "It brings it home. It makes it more real."

Helen Kennard, principal of West Oktibbeha County High School, said her cousin was a frequent playmate of her children. The news of his death "was devastating," she said.

Helen Kennard said her cousin was born in the Starkville area and attended elementary school there. But Courtland Kennard's father was in the military, and Helen Kennard said the family moved all over the United States. He graduated from high school in Germany.

Bobby Macon, a great-uncle, told The Associated Press that Kennard had visited family in Starkville in July shortly before being deployed.

He said Kennard was a quiet kid who stayed out of trouble. "When he got about 14, he kind of just wanted to follow his daddy's footsteps," Macon said.

West Memorial Funeral Home in Starkville is handling arrangements for Kennard, but plans were incomplete Monday.

The Associated Press has counted at least 45 soldiers with strong Mississippi ties who have died in fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. One, Staff Sgt. Christopher L. Robinson, died in Afghanistan, while the others died in Iraq.

Kennard's survivors include his parents; brother Jamar Kennard; and grandparents Emma Kennard and C.D. and Luevenia Simmons, all of Starkville.

From the Clarion Ledge