Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle D. Crowley

Died April 6, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

18, of San Ramon, Calif.; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed April 6 by hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq.

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Bay Area Marine dies in Iraq

Associated Press

SAN RAMON, Calif. — When Kyle Crowley decided to join the Marines and head off to Iraq, his father feared for his son’s safety.

Those fears proved prescient when the 18-year old from San Ramon was killed April 6 in a gun battle in Iraq.

“I’m just really proud of Kyle and his achievements,” his father, Mark Crowley, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’m really saddened by the loss of his young life and that his blood was spilled on foreign soil.”

Crowley is one of three San Francisco Bay area residents killed in Iraq this week. Marine Lance Cpl. Travis J. Layfield, 19, of Fremont, was also killed the same day, and Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, 24, of Vacaville, died earlier that week.

Crowley was mourned at California High School, which he attended for 3" years before graduating from alternative Del Amigo High School last spring.

“He was proud to wear his uniform and so excited about being a Marine,” California High principal Mark Corti said. “I saw the growth in him, the maturity, the self-confidence, self-esteem. He was just a new young man. He was so proud that he had gone through that training.”

Mark Crowley served in the Army and was opposed to his son’s decision to enter the military even though he admits it helped his son mature.

“I was pretty much against Kyle joining. I was fearful of his safety,” Mark Crowley said.

A memorial at California High School was scheduled for April 8 and a candlelight vigil will be held in San Ramon the following night.

Kyle’s friend Gray Kaempf was stunned when he heard the news.

“My heart was in my stomach when Kyle’s dad called me,” Kaempf told the Contra Costa Times. “I was thinking about Kyle, wondering where he was and how he was doing.

“To be a Marine was the dream he wanted. He was very brave. He went over there and gave everything he had for his country. His death makes the war so real I might be fighting over there, too.”

Kyle Crowley is survived by his father, his mother, Mary, and sister, Nichole, 20.