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- The People Behind The Sacrifice
Army Spc. Alain L. Kamolvathin
Died January 16, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom
21, of Blairstown, N.J.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, New York Army National Guard, New York, N.Y.; killed Jan. 16 in a motor vehicle accident in Baghdad.
N.J. Guardsman killed in Iraq vehicle accident
By Chris Newmarker
Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. — A 21-year-old soldier from Blairstown, remembered for his quiet demeanor and love of family, died Monday in a vehicle accident in Baghdad, the military said.
Spc. Alain L. Kamolvathin’s devotion to his many relatives was ever the more important because of the loss he had experienced in his immediate family, according to Marilyn Maring of Blairstown, a family friend.
Kamolvathin’s mother, Marie, died of cancer almost four years ago. His father, Chokchai, died of a heart attack two years ago. But he was constantly in touch with his many aunts and uncles and his only immediate relative, his 12-year-old sister, Sidney, Maring said.
“He was respected. He was mature. And he was very much loved. And he will be very much missed,” Maring said.
Kamolvathin attended North Warren Regional High School, but left in 1999 and was later home-schooled, Maring said. He enlisted in the National Guard after receiving his general equivalency diploma at age 19.
After his father’s death, Kamolvathin lived in Queens with his father’s family, she said.
Kamolvathin had been in Iraq since October, Maring said. He was a scout with the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, a New York National Guard unit.
Kamolvathin said little to his family about his duties in Iraq. “He was careful about what he said. I know he was doing things that were not to be publicized,” Maring said.
Maring remembers Kamolvathin as being quiet and laid-back even when he was growing up in the Warren County area.
“He really liked computers. He liked to read. He liked to hang out with his family and friends. He wasn’t really a sports type of person. But he was intelligent and studied hard,” Maring said.