Ryan T. McCaughn remembered by family

MANCHESTER – Marine Lance Cpl. Ryan McCaughn, a recent graduate of Central High School, was killed Tuesday while fighting insurgents in Iraq, family members said.

McCaughn, 19, was less than two months into his deployment in Ramadi, a city in central Iraq, when a homemade bomb exploded near his vehicle.

"He was killed instantly," said his older brother, Chris Merlin. "He didn't suffer."

Military officers and police arrived at the family's doorstep in Manchester Tuesday night to deliver the news.

"I just can't believe it," his mother, Nicole Cote, said yesterday. "It's not supposed to happen this way. Your kids aren't supposed to leave you."

McCaughn joined the U.S. Marine Corps during his senior year at Central High School. He left for boot camp at Parris Island one week after graduating in June 2005.

"He said he needed to do this," Cote recalled. "He said if he could keep one dad from going to Iraq and he could take his place instead, then he'll feel like he's accomplished something."

McCaughn was deployed Sept. 10. Although he wasn't allowed to divulge most details of his mission, friends and family members said they know he was living in Ramadi, the southwestern point of the Sunni Triangle, and that he patrolled the region with a grenade launcher and M16 rifle.

At least 15 other New Hampshire serviceman have died in Iraq. Two other casualties also hailed from Manchester: Army Pfc. George R. Roehl Jr., who died last April, and Marine Lance Cpl. Adam R. Brooks, who died two years ago this month.

Like McCaughn, Brooks was a recent graduate of Central High School. Brooks died in an explosion near Bagdad.

Even as a child, friends said, McCaughn was clear in his military ambitions. Both of his parents were former servicemen; his mother served briefly in the U.S. Army, and his father, Thomas McCaughn (now living in Wisconsin), was a Marine.

His older brothers, Chris and Sean Merlin, served in the Air Force and Navy, respectively.

Neither brother nor Cote saw combat. When it became clear that McCaughn had his sights set on Iraq, some family members urged him to reconsider.

"I did everything I could to talk him out of it," said Chris Merlin, 24. "He was like, No, bro. This is what I want.'"

McCaughn was born in Jacksonville, N.C., home of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Coincidentally, he was stationed at Lejeune this fall when he left for Iraq.

His early years were spent in North Carolina and Missouri.

Cote, a single mother, moved her family to New Hampshire about a decade ago. McCaughn's stepfather, Raymond Beauclair Jr., helped raise him.

Friends described McCaughn as an irrepressible comedian who used to torment his school bus driver and sometimes splashed around in puddles just for laughs. He performed on stage with Maskers, his high-school drama club, and wasn't afraid to dress up as a woman if the part demanded it.

"He was always making people laugh," said Kelly Farnsworth, 19, a friend since the sixth grade.

As a high schooler, McCaughn took culinary classes at the Manchester School of Technology. He and his friends, Kyle Schmidt and Greg Lake, talked of one day opening a restaurant and bar. McCaughn, they said, was going to take business classes so he could be the manager.

Mostly, though, friends and relatives said McCaughn spoke of joining the military and, later, becoming a police officer. He worked extra hard during his senior year to complete the requirements necessary for enrolling in the Marines, at one point taking three English classes in a single semester.

At 17, he asked his mother to help him sign up for duty.

"He said he was going to sign up anyway when he was 18," Schmidt said, "but he would feel better if it was with her consent."

McCaughn occasionally returned to Central High School after graduating. Once, he came to talk to students about life in the Marines. Later, he came as a recruiter.

Rebecca Spiro, his English teacher during senior year, said she hardly recognized him just one year later.

"He was mature," she said. "He was grown up."

Word spread slowly among faculty members yesterday morning. One teacher, Amy Pennington, dug up a poem McCaughn had written in her creative-writing class.

The poem is titled, "Soldier."

"Many soldiers have had to experience the ultimate Sacrifice," McCaughn wrote. "Even in death, a soldier will show Pride. All you can do is hope that they finally found Peace."

From the Union Leader

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