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August 17
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Lance Cpl. Caleb J. Powers, USMCThe Department of Defense announced on August 20 the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.Lance Cpl. Caleb J. Powers, 21, of Manfield, Wash., died Aug 17 due to enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Lance Cpl. Powers was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, Calif. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Mansfield, Washington -- It is the one phone call the family of a United States Soldier hopes and prays that they will never get. However, that wish did not come true on Tuesday, August 17, 2004 when twenty-one year old Lance Cpl. Caleb Powers was shot and killed in Iraq. He had enlisted in the United States Marine Corps after graduating from Mansfield High School in 2001. He was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division based out of Camp Pendleton, California and had currently been serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Caleb was one of three soldiers from Mansfield who are currently serving in Iraq. He is the first Mansfield soldier to be killed in action since World War II. While many soldiers have lost their lives while serving in Iraq, this loss is different than all others. When a tragedy like this occurs in such a small town, it hits and it hits hard affecting everyone. Caleb was well known not only in Mansfield, but also by many around Central Washington, California, and by those in the military. His ultimate dream was to be a United States Soldier in the Marine Corps. During his time in the service, he was awarded many honors included the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. He also became friends with the cast and crew of the television show "7th Heaven." When Caleb graduated from High School he made the statement, “I am one of the few, the proud…I am a Marine.” Until his last day, that is the way he lived his life. He was one who always had a smile on his face and enjoyed life to the fullest. Caleb died as a proud Marine who will be missed by all. Funeral services were held on Friday August 27, 2004 at Mansfield High School. A marker will be placed at the Mansfield Cemetery and he will be laid to rest in October at Arlington National Cemetery. Memorial donations can be made to: "Raise the Flag" Fund, c/o Mansfield Booster Club, PO Box 154, Mansfield, Washington 98830. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ First Marine Division -- CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, Iraq (Aug. 23, 2004) -- As the sun set Friday, casting a golden light upon a rifle with two sets of dangling dog tags, Marines with Company F, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, gathered to Camp Snake Pit to say goodbye to two of their fallen brothers. Lance Corporals Jonathon W. Collins and Caleb J. Powers were each killed by a single shot from an enemy sniper while manning different observation posts in Ar Ramadi. "Tonight we gather in memoriam for tribute to two fallen comrades, who were struck by unseen assassins," said Lt. Col. Paul Kennedy, battalion commander. "We have come to honor these fellow Marines who answered the country's call to duty, and represented the best of our Corps." Twenty-year-old Collins, from Oak Lawn, Ill., was killed Aug. 8 at Observation Post "Ghetto" in the heart of Ar Ramadi. Powers, 21, from Alexandra, Va., was killed Aug. 17 while manning an observation post atop a seven-story building overlooking one of Ar Ramadi's main roadways. Collins was described as a good Marine and good man by his platoon commander, 1st Lt. Ethan C. Taranta. "He had confidence in his abilities that bordered on cockiness," Taranta said. "But he was justified in that confidence. He was a SAW gunner and considered himself to be the best in his platoon, if not the whole company. He was very, very good at his job." What Taranta remembers most about Collins, was his sense of humor. "He always had a joke or a smile no matter how tired he was, or how difficult the task was,' Taranta said. "I don't think I ever talked to him, with out walking away with a smile on my face." With a little over a month left in Iraq before returning to the states, Collins compared his experience in Iraq with the game of football. "A couple of days before he was killed, Collins said, 'In the game, the teams score most of their points in the first two minutes and the last two minutes. And right now we are in the last two minutes. Even though we are down a handful of Marines we still need to go out there and do our job and make it out of here safe and alive,'" said his close friend, Lance Cpl. Clark H. Davidson. After several Marines shared their feelings about Collins, Powers' platoon commander, 1st Lt. Joseph M. Denman, stepped up to the podium and shared his thoughts. "Words fall short of describing or consoling us in the loss we have experienced in the death of Lance Corporal Powers," said Denman. "And to Third Platoon, he was more than a friend. He was our brother in arms. For he lived, sacrificed and fought at our side taking equal share in the dangers and hardships in the past six months." Friends of Powers knew of his love for his friends, family, farming and dirt bikes. "If you knew Lance Corporal Powers, you knew he was all about wheat and farming," said his close friend, Lance Cpl. Taylor G. Wiley. "You could make fun of him about it all the time and he would take it like a champ. "Right before he died, Lance Corporal Powers' last words were, 'Dirt bike riding is my life,'" said Wiley. "So we all like to think at that moment when Powers went, he was happy." Collins is survived by his parents, Jack and Angela Collins, his two sisters and an older brother. Powers is survived by his wife, Sarah Powers, and his sister. The battalion commander said each of these Marines would be greatly missed, and gave some words of encouragement to the mourning Marines. "Lance Corporals Collins and Powers are watching over us now," Kennedy said. "They will measure our devotion in the remaining month against their own sacrifices. We will not let them down." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The Free Lance Star, FREDERICKSBURG, Virginia -- Iraqi sniper kills local Marine -- Twenty-one-year-old who dreamed of being Marine is killed in Iraq, two weeks before he was to come home. -- Life had turned around for Caleb Powers. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say he had turned life around. With a vengeance. He'd gone from being a troubled child to a poster child; from a headache to a hero; from a wild kid no one wanted to know to a young Marine admired by the famous and the powerful. His was a heartwarming story--until Aug. 17, when he was cut down by enemy fire in Iraq. He was 21 years old. And he had just two weeks to go before being sent home. At age 10, Powers came from Cloverdale, Ore., to Childhelp USA at Lignum in Culpeper County and spent three years there, getting help for behavioral problems. Childhelp works with children who are abandoned, abused and emotionally troubled. His parents were divorcing and his mother, Tracy Powers of Stafford County, simply couldn't control him, friends said. Lance Cpl. Caleb John Powers was a rifleman. His unit, from Camp Pendleton, Calif., is Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. His unit was garrisoned in Ramadi, 40 miles from Fallujah. He died while standing guard on a parapet 70 feet above the ground, talking to another Marine, friends said. No one saw the insurgent who shot upward at Powers, striking him in the head, killing him instantly, they said. "I'm numb, totally numb," said Eunice Haigler of Massaponax, who worked with Powers at Childhelp, made him birthday cakes and nursed him when he was sick. "This is devastating," she said. "The tears want to come, but they won't fall." Powers grew up wanting to join the Corps because of John Bacon, who was commanding officer of the Quantico Young Marines unit he joined. Bacon had made an impression on Powers by taking him hunting and fishing. Later, as a Marine working to promote Childhelp, Powers was befriended by a number of celebrities, including Ashlee Simpson and the cast of the television show "7th Heaven," which suspended production when the news of Powers' death came. Haigler said she and Bacon both feel like parents who have lost a child. "I wouldn't get that sappy on a Marine," Bacon said stoically in a phone interview from Los Angeles. As a boy at Childhelp, Powers was also befriended by Navy Adm. William Owens, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who became his mentor and remained a spiritual uncle. Some friends and family are attempting to arrange to have Powers buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Funeral services will be held Friday at Mansfield High School in Washington state, where he graduated in 2001. Bacon said Powers loved being a Marine and died doing what he wanted to do. Haigler said Bacon gave Caleb his first bike. "Caleb wanted to be just like John." She recalled seeing Powers in his Young Marines uniform for the first time when he was 10. "He looked so handsome that I cried," she said. "It was the first thing that he had ever done that he could be proud of and he broke out in that infectious smile of his." After his time at Childhelp, Powers was adopted by his aunt and uncle who live in Mansfield. Within days of his high school graduation, he enlisted in the Marines. Haigler said Powers had emotional and behavioral problems as a child, "but being a Marine totally changed him." Friends said Powers never doubted the importance of his mission in Iraq and that they will not question his wisdom. "He was happy being there, doing his job as a Marine," said Jay Gibbons, a friend in Los Angeles and former director of Variety Children's Charities in Los Angeles, who talked to Powers often on the phone while he was in Iraq. "He loved what he was doing." "Being a Marine was his dream," Haigler said. "He followed his dream. I can't feel bitter because he did exactly what he wanted to. "I know he's up in heaven now," she said, "guarding us." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The Seattle Post Intelligencer -- USA -- Out in the rich wheat country of Eastern Washington, the war in Iraq cut through the heart of Mansfield's small community of 350 hard-working people this week. It sliced, too, through the hearts of disadvantaged children, especially those with Child Help USA, when they heard that Caleb Powers, 21, a Marine Corps lance corporal, had been cut down by enemy fire in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, on Tuesday, two weeks before his tour was up. Powers, who at 7 was cared for by the Virginia-based children's group until farming relatives in Mansfield adopted him five years later, was a virtual poster boy for the non-profit organization that helps abandoned children. A resilient kid who appreciated where he had come from, Powers hoped to save his combat pay to one day buy a ranch in Mansfield. He dreamed of one day giving back to the organization that helped him by helping other children, such as the ones who swarmed over him when he visited, said Jay Cooper, a retired film-industry executive and former director of Variety Children's Charities in Beverly Hills, Calif., who had come to know Powers. "He was our poster Marine, just an amazing young man, a fine, inspirational young man who loved life," said Cooper, who met Powers when the latter was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif. "He loved children and wanted to help because he was a product of Child Help USA." From a youngster with attention-deficit disorder who had nearly nothing in childhood, Powers eventually came to have almost everything. His range of admirers extended from his loving family and friends to abandoned children, and to a roomful of 2,000 international celebrities who stood to applaud him two years ago at a Hollywood fund-raiser for children's groups, Cooper said. Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, sat with him. Singer Lee Greenwood dedicated a song to him. The cast from the television show "Seventh Heaven" took him under their wing, Cooper said. "He was certainly popular with his fellow Marines in Iraq, because he was getting teddy bears from Jessica Simpson" to help disadvantaged Iraqi children, Cooper said. As a child, Powers' own words about his life were recorded in "Silence Broken," a book about Child Help USA, the organization begun in the 1950s to help displaced Japanese children, but which expanded to help other youth. It was in Washington state's heartland, however, that the loss of his cheery words struck home. In Mansfield, they'd seen Powers leave his farming chores to scramble down to the football field to play eight-man high school football in working boots. His teammates nicknamed him "Chippewa" for the brand name of the footwear. Yesterday, the community wrapped its callused hands in a gentle embrace around Powers' family, especially his sister, Rosanna. Herself a Marine and living on the East Coast, Rosanna Powers learned yesterday that her fiance, another Marine, also was killed in Iraq. "Caleb died Tuesday; his sister's fiance died this morning. Two tragedies in one family; she really has the pain to go through," said Patty Hanson, a cousin, who was filling in for a friend at the Town Bar & Grill yesterday. In a town where the school system totals 90 this year, and Powers was one of 11 in Mansfield High School's Class of 2001, the tragedies "went through the town like wildfire," said Renee Bayless. Her husband, Ric Bayless, is pastor of United Protestant Church of Mansfield, a high school football coach and was one of Powers' school teachers. Mansfield businesses yesterday talked of shutting down for a memorial service at the high school gym next Friday. Already, the Mansfield Booster Club plans donations to buy a flagpole for the football field, with a plaque in Powers' memory. A memorial fund was set up at the Wells Fargo Bank branch to collect money to bring home his sister, Bayless said. Mansfield's Chamber of Commerce, which boasts the community is "the town at the end of the rails," in reference to when the railroad went through town, yesterday topped its Web site with Powers' photo and a message: "Caleb was one of three soldiers from Mansfield who are currently serving in Iraq. He is the first Mansfield soldier to be killed in action since before World War II. When a tragedy like this occurs in such a small town, it hits and it hits hard, affecting everyone." Powers was a rifleman with his Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based unit, the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, when he was felled by enemy gunfire Tuesday. His unit is garrisoned in Ramadi, 40 miles from Fallujah, scene of fierce fighting. Powers enlisted in the Marines on June 11, 2001, right after graduation. Those who knew him said he always wanted to be a Marine. As the years went by, he grew closer to his birth mother. Often Powers phoned family and friends from Iraq to stay in touch, usually cheerful, often exhausting his phone card and begging another off fellow Marines to complete the call. Bayless, the pastor, said there's an attempt afoot to try to have him buried at Arlington National Cemetery, across from the nation's capital and in the state in which he found help as a child. Those in the town he planned to make home, however, believe Mansfield is the best place to lay him to rest. "It's beautiful when the wheat is ready out here," said Renee Bayless. "It's really amber waves of grain." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Seattle Times -- The most difficult miles of Rosanna Powers' life are bringing her from Florida to the small Washington state farming community of Mansfield, Douglas County, for her brother's funeral tomorrow. Then she will fly back across the country to help bury her fiancé the next day. Both were U.S. Marines killed last week — one day apart — in Iraq. The double dose of tragedy struck a 22-year-old woman keenly aware of the risks of Marine life. She's a Marine corporal herself, now in the United States in her final days of service. That shared sense of service gave her some comfort while her loved ones were deployed in Iraq but has not made it any easier to cope with their deaths. "Before, I kind of knew some of what they were going through," Powers said. "This is different. This is so personal." Powers' brother, 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Caleb Powers, was the first to die. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., and was shot Aug. 17 as he stood guard at his unit's compound in Al Anbar province in western Iraq, family members said. Rosanna Powers got the news that day. Then two days later, she learned that her fiancé, Sgt. Richard Lord, 24, of Florida, also had been killed in action. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division based out of Camp LeJeune, N.C. He died Aug. 18 from injuries sustained while he, too, was in Al Anbar province. The Marines who rotated back into Iraq earlier this year often have been on the front lines of fighting, and some of their units have sustained some of the U.S. forces' highest casualty rates. Those casualties include seven Marines from Washington state who have died since late May. Caleb Powers and Lord lost their lives in the province that includes the towns of Fallujah, Ramadi and other insurgent strongholds. Though both rotated in and out of hot spots, the two men never got a chance to meet. Lord earlier this month tried unsuccessfully to arrange a get-together, Rosanna Powers said. Both men died at a time when they had started to plan for life beyond Marine service and the war in Iraq. Caleb Powers had less than a month to go before he was scheduled to leave Iraq, and had his mind set on later leaving the service to turn to a life of wheat farming in Mansfield. Lord was planning to marry Rosanna Powers. And, in recent months, he had decided to leave the Marines when his service ended in 2006 and return to his native Florida to help raise the 10-month-old son they had together. Rosanna Powers has been based out of Cherry Point, N.C., in a communications wing. She met Lord while they were both stationed stateside. Then, in February 2003, after she was deployed to Kuwait, she discovered she was pregnant and returned to the U.S. Meanwhile, Lord served a first tour of duty in Iraq and then on June 22 returned for a second tour of duty. "He was like my brother — a real gung-ho Marine — but he was going to give it up, buy some property and settle down," she said in a telephone interview yesterday from Florida. "He would call me up and say, 'I love you.' We had so many plans." Today, Powers begins her cross-country marathon to say her goodbyes. She is scheduled to fly to Seattle, then drive east to Mansfield to attend a 1 p.m. funeral service tomorrow for her brother. Caleb Powers loved the Mansfield area, moving there when he was about 12 years old to live with his aunt and uncle after difficult years in Oregon and Virginia. He received help from Childhelp USA, an organization that aids troubled youth, and enjoyed a taste of celebrity as he appeared at a 2002 fund-raiser for the group, where family members said singer Lee Greenwood performed "God Bless the USA" in his honor. But he wanted to return to small-town life in Mansfield, with a population of about 320. "Every letter that I got from him was about coming home," said his aunt, Jackie Tupling. "He wanted to know how he would go about getting loans to get a farm and even had a farm in mind he was going to buy." As a teen, Rosanna Powers didn't make the move to Washington. She stayed in Virginia but kept in close touch with her brother, and she says her own enlistment might have added a bit of extra incentive for Caleb's enlistment. As a fellow Marine, he would tease her and call her only by her last name. When she would protest, he would snap back — "Semper Fi, Powers, Semper Fi," using the Marine Corps motto that means "always faithful." His casket is being brought back to Mansfield for tomorrow's funeral. His body will then be cremated. There will be a cemetery marker in Mansfield as well as a separate burial in Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia, Tupling said. After the Mansfield service, Powers will drive back to Seattle and hop a red-eye flight to Florida in time for a 2 p.m. Saturday funeral for Lord. It will be held in Trenton, a small town west of Gainesville. Powers wants people to remember not just the battlefield deaths but the lives that preceded them. "First to lose my brother, then Rich, this hurts so bad. But this is happening to more than just me." |
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