Jonathan R Kephart |
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Oil City, Pennsylvania |
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April 9, 2004 |
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Died in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries sustained when his patrol was ambushed near Baghdad on April 8. | ||||||||
From Pastor David Foote 05/26/04:
He was already awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star...The family has also been notified that he will be awarded the Silver Star as well. He is sadly missed and fondly remembered by friends and family. Thank you for your memorial website. Pastor David Foote |
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From
Stars and Stripes
21st TSC honors first member slain in
Iraq Kephart, 21, of the Kaiserslautern-based 230th Military Police
Company, was a gunner in a three-vehicle patrol in north Baghdad when
the squad ran into a hellish hail of weapons fire.
The unit had been in Baghdad less than a month and was on its way to
help soldiers whose Humvee had a flat tire.
Suddenly, what seemed like hundreds of enemies besieged the squad
with rocket-propelled grenades, small-arms fire and roadside-bomb traps.
“They went into a firestorm no one could have anticipated,” Col.
Susan Sowers, commander of the 37th Transportation Command, said of the
April 8 attack. Sowers was among a large group of soldiers who attended
a memorial service for Kephart on Friday in Kaiserslautern.
When the attack started, Kephart, a quiet man from Oil City, Pa.,
unleashed a cacophonous response with his .50-caliber weapon, spraying
cover fire as the squad made its way down a “four-kilometer kill
zone,” Sowers said.
The nine other members of his 2nd Squad, 4th Platoon “Hell
Raisers” in the Humvees behind and in front of him did the same,
trying to stave off death.
Even after a round exploded in Kephart’s .50-caliber gun, he
didn’t flinch. His driver and team leader, Spc. Amy Kovac, handed her
M249 machine gun to him and Kephart unloaded the rounds until he had no
more. Then he grabbed an M-4 assault rifle and continued defending the
squad.
The squad kept moving, Kovac and the other drivers maneuvering
evasively. But they had to turn around and head back through the kill
zone when they discovered roadside bombs blocking their path.
“I know at one point when I looked at him, watching him as he
poured fire onto the enemy troops, I knew we had a chance to make it out
of there,” Platoon Sgt. Edwin Rossman wrote of the attack. Every
soldier did make it out with minor injuries — except Kephart.
The gunner saw a rocket-propelled grenade heading right for him and
ducked to avoid it. But the RPG hit the metal plate behind Kephart’s
sling and exploded, shearing off the back of his skull and sending a
shower of shrapnel into the vehicle.
Medic Spc. Serana Divirgilio kept Kephart alive while the squad
continued running the gantlet. The troops and their bullet-ridden
vehicles waited 30 minutes for medical evacuation, which flew Kephart to
a military hospital in Baghdad. He died the next day, on Good Friday.
Kephart’s commanders have recommended that he receive the Silver
Star for his gallantry in action against the enemy, Sowers said. He has
received the Purple Heart.
Back in garrison, friends said, Kephart was known as a pensive man
who let most of life’s slings and arrows bounce off of him.
“He was calm and cool. He looked like he couldn’t harm a
spider,” Pvt. Michael Garcia said in a letter read during the
ceremony. “He was just a peaceful guy with nothing to prove to
anyone.”
Kephart’s best friend, Pfc. Joseph LeBlanc, said his buddy’s
actions in the firefight weren’t surprising. He always was taking care
of others. “John Roy, I know you are out there watching over me, just
like you were right next to me,” LeBlanc said.
Kephart is the first member of Kaiserslautern’s 21st Theater
Support Command killed in Iraq. He is survived by his parents, Burt and
Donna Kephart.
“If Spc. Kephart had not been so relentless, we would have suffered
heavy casualties,” Rossman wrote. “Spc. Kephart gave his life
protecting and defending his brothers and sisters.” |
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