Heath Warner killed in combat

CANTON A 19-year-old U.S. Marine from Canton, who once devoted himself to teaching local children how to break dance, was killed in Iraq on Wednesday morning, his aunt said.

His parents, Scott and Melissa Warner, received the horrible news later that day that their son Heath Warner had been killed in action.

The aunt, who was at the Warners’ Perkins Avenue NW home Thursday afternoon, said family members did not want to talk to any reporters until at least today.

She said that’s because they wanted some kind of normalcy on Thanksgiving Day amid the tragedy. The woman, who declined to give her name, gave no information about the circumstances surrounding the death of Warner, who graduated from McKinley High School in 2005. She also did not know his rank.

Department of Defense spokesman Maj. Stewart Upton said the military’s policy is not to confirm the identity of a soldier killed in action or give out any information on the circumstances until at least 24 hours after the family is notified.

BREAK DANCING INSTRUCTOR

Kimberly Payne, director of the Living Fountain Dance Company, said Warner volunteered to be a break dance instructor in her Cleveland Avenue NW studio after spending some time as a student under the previous teacher. He taught from about 2002 to 2004.

“He decided to give a little bit of himself and his heart to other kids. He really believed break dancing would keep kids out of trouble,” she said. “I’m crushed that such a positive kid, his life has been taken by this world.”

Payne said after he stopped teaching to focus on his schoolwork, she often saw him collecting shopping carts at the Giant Eagle on Cromer Avenue NW, where he worked. She said the last time she saw him, he was at that supermarket with his parents, saying goodbye to his former co-workers before he went off to basic training.

“He felt it was going to be a very empowering experience for him. ... I remember the whole family being so happy and so proud,” said Payne, who said she felt a lump in her throat at the time. “He’s so pure and innocent. I felt like he’s way too young to go.”

Andrew Draime, 18, of Canton, who helped Warner teach break dancing, said he was shocked to find out Wednesday evening that his best friend, whom he had known since eighth or ninth grade, was dead.

He said he last saw Warner in September when he came home on leave, right before his deployment to Iraq.

“I was nervous,” Draime said. “I didn’t want him to go, but I didn’t think anything would happen to him.”

The last time Draime heard from Warner was through an America Online instant message.

“He wanted me (to wait) for him to come home,” Draime recalled. “He missed all of us and hoped we were all doing well.”

ONLINE WORDS

Draime confirmed that Warner had a MySpace profile titled “Heath is Drifter,” which by Wednesday evening had become an online memorial for the Marine. By Thanksgiving evening, at least 12 people had left comments on his profile in reaction to hearing about his death.

“I’m really gonna miss u man,” wrote one MySpace friend. “I just wish this was all a bad dream. :’( R.I.P.”

On Warner’s last MySpace blog entry in September, he announced he was going to Iraq on Sept. 11. He listed his current mood as numb with a sad face.

“I will be there approximately 6+ months I will be in a rotation so to speak around a certain area in which I cannot tell you but think of my deployment as a vacation so to speak. ... I promise I’ll be back very soon.”

Warner also wrote on his profile he wanted to have children someday and that he was a U.S. Marine infantry rifleman. He listed his major as “Defending freedom.”

His MySpace motto: “If you’re gonna Die, Die Standing Up!!”

From the Repository