In Memoriam

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LCpl. Andrew Kilpela

(reprinted from DetNews.com, June 13, 2005)

'Proud' Fowlerville Marine killed in Fallujah blast

22-year-old is the 54th soldier with Michigan ties killed since Iraq war began in March 2003

Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew Jacob Kilpela was a determined young man who could bring a smile to anyone's face.

"He was an amazing person," said his 15-year-old sister, Kristin. "He could make you happy when you were sad. He always said the right thing at the right time. He always thought of others first."

Kilpela, 22, of Fowlerville, in Livingston County, was killed Friday when the Humvee he was riding in was hit by an explosive in Fallujah, Iraq. He was a member of the 2nd Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Kilpela, who had been in Iraq since March, was the 54th service man or woman with ties to Michigan killed since the war began in that country in March 2003.

His father, the Rev. Michael Kilpela, pastor of the Apostolic Lutheran Church in Webberville, said his son seemed small for the Marines when he joined the corps in 2003.

He weighed "maybe 105 pounds soaking wet," his father said. But he wanted to be a Marine "to prove it to himself and to those who kept telling him that he couldn't do anything."

"He was very proud of being a Marine," Kristin said. "And pround to serve his country," his father added.

The Rev. Kilpela said his son "used to frustrate me like crazy because I could never get him to plan anything for the future."

But since the family learned Friday night of his death, the Rev. Kilpela has thought about that once-frustrating quality differently.

"I've come to the conclusion that he was a person who did not worry about tomorrow," his father said. "He did not regret yesterday, and he filled every moment of today with love and with joy and with passion for life."

An example was the watch his son gave him for Christmas last year. It was silver with three rows of diamonds around the face, not the kind of watch a pastor would buy for himself. "But to him, it was something special because he wanted to show me how much he loved me," his father said.

Kilpela graduated in 2001 from Fowlerville High School.

Survivors include his parents, the Rev. Michael and Cheryl Kilpela; four brothers, Jason, David, Jon and Nick; and two sisters, Janice and Kristin. A memorial service has not been scheduled.

The Rev. Kilpela said he hopes to get a veteran's plot for his son in the Fowlerville Cemetery "so he can be close to home, close as he can be. If I could bury him in my back yard, I'd do that."