Ryan Burgess remembered

Charismatic.

Mischievous.

Loyal.

All are qualities those who know Lance Cpl. Ryan James Burgess used to describe him Friday, a day after word of his death reached home.

Burgess died Dec. 21 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Another Marine, Lance Cpl. Ryan L. Mayhan, 25, of Hawthorne, Calif., died in the same incident. Both were assigned to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force out of Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Burgess, a 21-year-old from Hope Township, loved to have fun, a trait that gave his best friend since third grade, Brian Lincoln, many memories.

The pair came to age down the road and up the hill from each other, separated by a short distance that didn't do much to keep them apart.

"He's really adventurous," Lincoln said, remembering the times they'd go out hunting deer or ducks, building forts or riding quads together at Burgess' home.

"We never went to the mall, we were always out in the woods," he said. "He always wanted to be outside."

Lincoln is still coming to grips with the reality that his best friend is gone, and said Burgess knew he was in danger.

"He told me the last time he came home that he knows he's not coming back," Lincoln said.

Joining up

"I think Ryan needed to find his place," said his first-grade teacher Billie Dush. She remembered him as a little guy who smiled a lot in his younger years. She reached a deeper understanding about him after tutoring him through school and becoming a close family friend.

Burgess could be impulsive, in her words "not always making the right decision but the one to have fun."

He also was the kind of kid who'd rather jump right to the test than mess around with homework.
"He drove his mother nuts," Dush said.

He was good with his hands, building with mountains of Lego bricks as a boy, then moving on to high school drafting classes and skilled trades training at the Bay Arenac Skills Center. He excelled so much there that he was awarded for his performance, but never told his mother, who was frustrated to be told by someone else, Dush said.

Burgess found the place he belonged when he joined the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating from Meridian High School in 2003.

"Ryan matured and he came into himself," Dush said. "I think he respected himself."

"He certainly seemed to find his niche in the armed services," Christopher Schram, a high school English teacher, said.

Schram and principal Denny Stine saw Burgess as an intelligent but not academically-motivated student who was in high school just to get it over with.

"He wanted to be out there so badly," Schram said. "He just had to go through high school to get there."

Burgess stopped by the school a few times to visit after graduation, giving Stine a chance to notice he'd come back from the military as a proud, respectful man.

"He was very proud of what he was doing."

Military man

While details of what happened to Burgess had not been released by the military, Dush visited with his family Thursday night after they were contacted by officials and recounted a short version of the story.

Burgess was injured about a month ago when the Humvee he was riding in drove over an improvised explosive device. He suffered a severe concussion and leg injuries, and was only out of the hospital about two days when the same thing happened again.

This time, he didn't make it.

"He had just earned a Purple Heart," in connection with the first incident, Dush said.

Burgess served as a sniper, a squad leader for special forces, who won top honors for marksmanship in boot camp, she said. Not even Lincoln is sure of the timelines of how his buddy moved up in ranks, or the name of the special school Burgess attended for training with guns.

"It was something different all the time," Lincoln said.

The loss

"It's been a matter of time," Stine said, with so many students joining the armed services after graduation. "You can't be lucky all the time."

Burgess' death is especially tragic because was so young.

"He just started to experience the life he wanted to experience," Schram said.

His smiles, caring and thoughtful nature, courage and fun-loving heart won't be forgotten anytime soon, especially by those who loved him the most.

Lincoln has already found a way to honor his most loyal pal.

He and his wife are awaiting the birth of their son, due on Jan. 17. Lincoln said they had planned to name the baby after family.

Instead they are naming him after Ryan.

Burgess' family has asked for privacy following his death.

From the Daily News

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Ryan J. Burgess slain by sniper