Kyle A. Little reported killed in Iraq

NORTH BERWICK, Maine — A 20-year-old soldier from Massachusetts known for his love of baseball and military life was killed by a roadside bomb during his second tour in Iraq, his father said Thursday.

Army Spc. Kyle A. Little, of West Boylston, Mass. died Tuesday north of Baghdad, according to his father, Michael Little of North Berwick, Maine.

Little’s wife, Tiffany, is expecting a child in November.

"That’s a blessing, that there’s some part of Kyle that’s still here," said his father.

Michael and his wife, Katrina, are well known to residents of nearby York, Maine, where Michael is a longtime custodian at York High School and Katrina is a custodian at Coastal Ridge Elementary School. Michael also runs his own DJ business, SideTrax DJ. Kyle is Michael’s son from an earlier marriage.

Kyle Little was a baseball fanatic who pitched on youth and school teams growing up, and sported a Boston Red Sox tattoo on his arm.

Little dropped out of high school, feeling it wasn’t the place for him, and joined the Army at age 17, a few months before he would have graduated, his mother, Shelly Smith, told the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester.

Little seemed to mature in the service, which he intended to make a career, his father said. He was working as a bodyguard during his second tour in Iraq, Michael Little said.

"He was there because he wanted to be there, and he did what he liked to do," he said.

Kyle Little was the oldest of five brothers and sisters.

From the Portsmouth Herald