Kyle Powell laid to rest

Colorado Springs - Friends stood before the flag-draped casket of Marine Cpl. Kyle Powell on Monday and remembered him as a man who was not born to follow or get out of the way.

Even on his last day alive, the blond-headed kid who grew up in Colorado Springs, became an Eagle Scout and graduated from Cheyenne Mountain High School, was leading the way.

Powell, 21, was on foot in front of a convoy of six vehicles with Marines who were trying to extract fellow Marines from an area near Fallujah, Iraq, that was infested with enemies.

"He was always, always ready to go and lead from the front," said Lt. Col. Wayne Sinclair, commander of the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Powell and Cpl. Jose Galvan, 22, of San Antonio, Texas, were killed Nov. 4 when an improvised mine exploded near Fallujah.

"The finding of the improvised mine ... saved the lives of five other Marines that were in the Humvee behind him as he was conducting the route sweep," Sinclair told about 300 people at a memorial service at the Shrine of Remembrance in Colorado Springs.

"It brings to mind, John 15:13," said Sinclair. "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for a friend."

Powell, who was on his third tour in Iraq, is at least the 38th Coloradan killed in the war, not including those stationed at Fort Carson. Since the war started in March 2003, 174 soldiers from Fort Carson have died.

A few days before Powell's death, he saved another life, applying a tourniquet to a Marine and firing his weapon at the enemy until the Marine could be rescued, Sinclair said.

During his second tour, Powell received the Navy Achievement Medal for a bunker he designed and constructed that withstood several rocket-propelled grenades, preventing the injury of Marines inside.

On Monday, after a 21-gun salute and the mournful playing of taps, Sinclair presented Powell's parents, David and Nancy Powell, who are both retired Army officers, a posthumous Purple Heart and two folded American flags.

Jerry Limoge, who knew Powell through Boy Scouts, said the young Scout like to blow things up. He made smoke bombs, and when he became bored with them, added white gas - Coleman fuel.

Once, while building a tower near Burlington to earn a Boy Scout badge, Powell became enraged when the structure fell. Quickly realizing the need for an attitude adjustment, Powell began to laugh uncontrollably, Limoge said.

"He started laughing so hard at himself that all the other Scouts - it was contagious - they all started rolling on the ground laughing. They got a hold of themselves and put the tower back together," he said.

At Cheyenne Mountain high, Loren Hellem, now 21, was a lonely freshman who had no friends when he met Powell.

"He taught me to enjoy the moment," Hellem said. "I remember all of these wonderful times, these crazy weekends. He really did enjoy blowing things up. I remember all of us going out and one thing Kyle certainly taught me was to watch out for police whenever we were driving ... Even though he is not here in body, he will always be in spirit."

From the Denver Post

Marine remembererd

Years before Kyle Powell enlisted, his friends and family in Colorado Springs saw him preparing to be a Marine someday.

The 21-year-old corporal who died Nov. 4 in Fallujah, Iraq, was always leading others. He was fiercely dedicated to his friends and showed a determination not often seen in teenagers.

“Everything he did on his path to manhood steeled his resolve to lead,” Charles Shay said at his friend’s funeral Monday. “He wasn’t meant to follow or to get out of the way.”

A 2003 graduate of Cheyenne Mountain High School and lifelong resident of Colorado Springs, Powell proved himself in the Boy Scouts years before he joined the Marine Corps.

Chris Lambert said he was amazed at the sheer strength of will Powell showed on long hikes through Colorado’s backcountry with his fellow Scouts.

“He had a 60-pound pack on his back, and he was a scrawny kid — just 120 pounds,” Lambert said. “He didn’t quit, and he didn’t complain.”

Jerry Limoge, who also got to know Powell through Boy Scouts, told more than 100 mourners who packed the Shrine of Remembrance that the young man was also determined to help others along the way.

“Kyle felt in his heart that getting young Scouts on the right path was the most important job,” Limoge said.

Sure, Powell had a mischievous side. He had a fascination with fireworks and was sometimes too eager to show off his high-speed driving ability.

More often, he was the caring young man who brought out the best in people.

“He taught me to get out of this shell I was always trapped in,” high school friend Loren Hellem said during the service. “He taught us to enjoy the moment.”

A few days before Powell died, he showed he was equally dedicated to fellow Marines. The corporal and combat engineer braved enemy fire to apply a tourniquet to a wounded buddy, saving his life, said Lt. Col. Wayne Sinclair, Powell’s battalion commander.

On the day he died, Powell was with a squad of Marines searching for roadside bombs along a heavily traveled route through Fallujah, south of Baghdad.

He found one, and it exploded, killing him.

His actions that day “saved the lives of the five Marines traveling in the Humvee behind him,” Sinclair said.

It doesn’t stop the grief, but friends and family say they can take heart knowing where Powell is today.

It’s right there in the third verse of the Marine Corps Hymn: “If the Army and the Navy ever look on Heaven’s scenes, they will find the streets are guarded by United States Marines.”

Shay said Powell will be conspicuous even in those ranks.

“If you ever get there, he’ll be the corporal of the guard.”

From the Colorado Springs Gazette

Related Link:
Kyle Powell dies from combat wounds