Marine Pfc. Cody S. Calavan

Died May 29, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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19, of Lake Stevens, Wash.; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed May 29 by hostile action in Anbar province, Iraq.

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Washington teen killed in Iraq

Associated Press

LAKE STEVENS, Wash. — A Lake Stevens teen is among the latest casualties of the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Pfc. Cody S. Calavan, 19, of Lake Stevens, Wash., died Saturday during hostile action in Anbar province, Iraq, the Marine Corps announced in a news release Tuesday.

Calavan was a machine gunner assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Calavan joined the Marine Corps on June 16, 2003. His personal awards include the National Defense Service Medal.

As of Tuesday, 807 U.S. service members had died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq last year, according to the Defense Department. Since May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 669 U.S. soldiers have died.

Calavan was the 12th person from Washington State killed in Iraq since the start of the Iraq war.

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Marine killed in Iraq remembered by friends, family

EVERETT, Wash. — A 19-year-old Marine private killed in a roadside bombing in Iraq was remembered for the way he cared for those who needed him on the battlefield and at home.

Pfc. Cody Calavan of Stanwood “had the heart of a great leader,” said Sgt. Ronnie Ramos, who served with Calavan in Iraq.

Calavan died May 29 when a bomb exploded near the Humvee he was riding in in Iraq’s Anbar province. On Tuesday, he was remembered at a service at New Life Center Foursquare Church here.

Calavan joined the Marines after graduating from Lake Stevens High School in 2003.

“He took pride in being a Marine and everything it stood for,” said his stepsister, Kalee Calavan Craig. “Cody was not afraid of war and not afraid to die for what he believed in.”

Calavan’s 15-year-old brother was killed by a drunken driver only nine months before Calavan died in Iraq. As a sole surviving son, he could have turned down the Iraq assignment under military rules, but his family said he strongly supported the war in Iraq and chose to serve with his platoon.

“Right now, we’re going to hurt, but we can go on because we know Cody finished what he needed to finish,” his stepmother, Pamela Calavan, told The Herald of Everett. “That gives us comfort. It’s just that we miss him so darned much.”

— Associated Press