Honor your hero with thoughts, memories, images and stories.
Cpl Kyle W. Powell was a son to Dave and Nancy and big brother to Megan. He was blue eyed and blond with an infectious laugh. He was a friend to many and like a brother to his fellow Marines. He was born to Army parents at Ft. Carson Hospital, near Colorado Springs, Colorado on December 14, 1984, on a cold snowy day. He was in kindergarten when Desert Storm started in 1991. He would watch the news every day and give me a full report of what our military was doing each day when I returned home from work. Through Boy Scouts and school projects we knew he'd end up serving his fellow man somehow, somewhere. Throughout Junior High and High School he'd always dress up in Dave's and my old uniforms for school video projects, imaginary war games or Halloween. So, between Scouts, sports, Halloween, etc. it seemed he was frequently in a uniform. He entered the United States Marine Corps on the delayed entry program while a senior in high school. I swore him in. He went to boot camp in San Diego in September 2003 and then on to Combat Engineering school. He told us that Combat Engineers build things and blow things up. Kyle's home base was Camp Pendleton, CA. He loved to party with his buddies on the beach, drinking beer and grilling steaks. His first deployment took him to many places besides Kuwait and Iraq. Kyle's second tour took him to Ramadi to work with the 3/7 Infantry. He received the Navy Achievement medal for building a bunker that withstood 5 RPG's(rocket propelled grenades) without anyone getting hurt. He deployed the third time in late August 2006 to Fallujah, Iraq, this time to work with 2nd RECON from Camp Lejeune and then with 3rd RECON from Okinawa. He was excited about this assignment as knew they'd be doing interesting things. Kyle liked to be actively engaged in something worthwhile, not sitting around. In October he was credited with saving the lives of 2 severely wounded Marines and probably several others. For this he was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor in May 2007. On November 4, 2006, he and another Marine were on foot in front of a convoy, sweeping the road for bombs, when one found them. They were both killed by the IED. Kyle was just 21 years old. He'd spent 2 birthdays in Iraq and was on his third winter in a row over there. Kyle was the imaginative one, the creative one, the organizer of fun. He is sorely missed and will always be our Hero. Nancy Pfander, proud Mother
I didnt get to meet Kyle but feel like i know him through my sons poetry about him and through his mother's beautiful spoken and written words abiut him. He touched many lives in his short life and his death. I believe his comrades feel a strange envy and a bond with him that none of the rest of us will ever know for only they understand kyle's courage and the meaning of it all. Through his mom Nancy i can sense Kyles character and warm loving heart. He will not be forgotten.