February 9, 2009
From Boston.com
http://multimedia.boston.com/m/21847060/marine_from_ma_dies_after_being_injured_in_afghanistan.htm?pageid=14155&seek=0.979
From NECN.com
http://www.necn.com/Boston/New-England/2009/02/09/Bridgewater-MA-Marine-dies/1234178473.html
From Brockton Enterprise
Bridgewater mourns loss of first soldier since Vietnam to die in combat.
By Theresa Knapp Enos and Maria Papadopoulos (Posted Feb 08, 2009 @ 11:34 PM)
BRIDGEWATER — Lance Cpl. Kevin T. Preach, who died Saturday from injuries sustained in combat while in Afghanistan, will be remembered for his smile, his sense of humor, and his selflessness. He was 21.
American flags in town were lowered to half-staff on Sunday in his memory.
“It’s clearly a tragedy that reaches across the whole town,” selectmen Chairman Herbert J. Lemon Jr. said Sunday, hours after learning of Bridgewater’s first military casualty from the War on Terror.
Preach was injured on Jan. 24 when the Humvee in which he was a gunner was hit by an improvised explosive device. He was at Brooks Army Medical Center in San Antonio in a medically induced coma last week. According to his mother, Laurie Hayes of Bridgewater, Preach lost both legs and a hand and was badly burned.
He was the first Bridgewater soldier to lose his life in service since the Vietnam War, says Bridgewater Veterans’ Agent Roderick K. Walsh.
“He was the funniest person I have ever met,” said Brianna Kelliher of Bridgewater, 18, Preach’s girlfriend of three years. “He would always make sure that everyone around him was comfortable, so he would always tell jokes. He was a gentleman, always opening car doors for girls and looking out for everyone around him, and he was the most selfless person. He was always happy and always made everyone around him happy. And of course he was the best boyfriend I will ever have.”
Preach was deployed to Afghanistan on Nov. 12, 2008. It was his first deployment. Preach served in southern Afghanistan, in Farah Province, according to the U.S. Marine Corps.
His awards included the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.
“It’s a great loss,” Lemon said. “This is a kid that died serving his country. I can only imagine what his family is going through right now.”
Barbara Murdoch, a history teacher at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School, met Preach when he took her “History of the Vietnam War” elective class. Five boys in that class planned to enlist in the military, she said.
“He was very interested in the class, especially the military angle of it. He had that attitude that he wanted to (be a Marine) and he was going to do it and that was it,” said Murdoch. “He was always just a real nice, nice kid to have in class. He was really kind of a quiet kid with a beautiful smile. That’s what I remember a lot about him — his beautiful smile.”
Dan Linehan, 19, of Bridgewater, met Preach in middle school when Preach moved from Brockton to Bridgewater. They soon became fast friends and graduated together in 2007 from Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School.
“He was quiet at first, but that is not at all who he was,” said Linehan. “He was outgoing, friendly. He was a very, very unselfish kid. He just wanted to be in the Marines to show that he could do something to help. That was the kind of person he was — he always wanted to help.”
Preach’s family and friends said he always wanted to be a Marine since he was a young child, perhaps because his father had been one as well.
“He knew what it entailed, and he never complained or talked about how dangerous it was,” said Kelliher. “He once said that he wasn’t afraid to die, he was just afraid of what it would do to all the people around him. He really wasn’t afraid of anything. He would have been more upset if the accident had happened to anyone other than himself. He probably would have been angry that he couldn’t get right back up and keep on fighting. He lived for protecting our country.”
On Sunday morning at the Bridgewater fire stations on School and Plymouth streets, firefighters lowered flags at half staff minutes after learning of Preach’s death, said Bridgewater Fire Capt Joe Cairns.
“We lowered them as soon as possible, out of respect and honor to him,” Cairns said of Preach. “It really is a sad day.”
Another B-R graduate, Jared Monti, 30, a Raynham native, was killed in action in Afghanistan on June 21, 2006, as he attempted to help two injured soldiers.
[story link:
http://www.enterprisenews.com/homepage/x1851008686/Bridgewater-mourns-loss-of-first-soldier-since-Vietnam-to-die-in-combat]
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