LCpl Kevin Joyce

Joyce, 19, was serving with Echo Company of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine, and had only arrived in Afghanistan on June 2.

On June 25, his five-vehicle convoy was returning from a patrol at 11 p.m. to its base, Camp Blessing, and was traveling on a road along the Pech River when the weight of the Humvee caused the road to collapse, a Marine Corps statement said.

Lt. Col. Gerald O'Hara, Army spokesman, said the Pech River was swollen by a large amount of melting snow.

Three of the Marines in the Humvee jumped off the vehicle. One Marine fell 10 to 12 feet onto a ledge by the river and another Marine fell into the river, but was able to climb out.

Joyce fell into the river and was swept away and drowned.

A rescue swimmer, secured by a rope, searched in vain for Joyce.

The search for the Marine was hampered by flood conditions of the Pech River located in Asadabad in the northeastern province of Kunar five miles from the Pakistani border.

Currents in the river were running at 20 to 25 mph when the accident occurred, military officials said. The water temperature was 50 degrees.

Joyce was from Ganado, Ariz., and graduated from boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego Aug. 20, 2004.

He arrived in Hawaii Oct. 28, 2004.

"Before he left, I asked him why he wanted so bad to be in the military," his mother, Effelita George, told the newspaper. "He said he would like to think he made a difference in some child's life by taking the place of a parent who didn't have to go over there."

George told the paper that her son was the best son a mother could have: gentle, understanding and full of love.

"He wasn't ashamed to tell us that he loved us," she said.

In the article, Emerson George, Joyce's uncle, said the family has been through a lot since first hearing Joyce was missing in action last month.

"When you love a person so much ... the love you have for one another is like sticking two pieces of paper together with glue," he said. "When you tear it apart, that's what it feels like." if(ScriptsLoaded) stInit();

Joyce is survived by his mother, Effelita George; father, Doug Joyce; brother Nathan George; sister Michelle Joyce; maternal grandparents Dan and Bessie George; paternal grandmother Annie Yazzie, and many aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, and friends.

Camp Blessing also was the base of Kaneohe Bay's 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment which was replaced by Joyce's unit.

Besides the three Kaneohe Marines, five Pearl Harbor sailors, and 15 soldiers from 25th Division at Schofield Barracks have died in Afghanistan since 2003.