Marine Cpl. Kelly M. Cannan

Died April 20, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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21, of Lowville, N.Y.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward); killed April 20 when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was conducting combat operations in Ramadi, Iraq. Also killed was Marine Lance Cpl. Marty G. Mortenson.

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New York Marine killed in Iraq

Associated Press

LOWVILLE, N.Y. — A Marine from northern New York was killed Wednesday in Iraq, the Department of Defense said.

Cpl. Kelly Cannan, 21, of Lowville, was one of two soldiers who died when a bomb exploded near their Humvee in Ramadi. Cannan was a 2001 graduate of Lowville Academy, 60 miles northeast of Syracuse.

Cannan had worked part-time in the maintenance department at the Lewis County Courthouse until enlisting in the Marine Corps in September 2001.

“He was close to a lot of people here,” said Frank J. Archer, a maintenance worker at the courthouse. “Matt wasn’t just a co-worker; Matt was a friend. He always gave 110 percent, no matter what he did. Matt liked everybody, and everybody like Matt.”

Cannan, who last visited the courthouse in the fall, recently volunteered for a third tour in Iraq so fellow Marines with wives and children wouldn’t have to go. “He was always thinking of someone else,” Mr. Archer said.

He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.