LCpl. Jeremiah Colt Kinchen, U.S.M.C

Family, friends bury Marine killed in Iraq
Advocate staff writer

SPRINGVILLE -- Donna Roberts has taught first grade at Frost School for 23 years -- and she taught seven years at French Settlement before that, so she's seen students and former students die.

But the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremiah Colt Kinchen, 22, hit her harder than most.

Kinchen died April 4 in the Al Anbar province in western Iraq, an area that stretches west of Baghdad to the Jordanian and Syrian border and which is known for heavy insurgent activity. He died in an explosion during a reconnaissance mission.

Roberts talked about her memories of Kinchen on Tuesday after students, teachers and staff had flanked both sides of the road in front of the school, holding small U.S. flags, as the funeral procession for Kinchen made its way from Colyell Baptist Church to Zeigler Cemetery.

She remembers his smile, and she remembers that he was one of the most well-behaved students in her class.

She remembers taking her class on a field trip to her father's strawberry farm. The children saw a mouse climbing up a plank.

"Jeremiah wanted to catch it and bring it back to class. Even my father always remembers that," she said.

She also remembers giving the class an assignment to talk about what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Some wanted to be nurses or firemen.

"Jeremiah wanted to be a soldier. That wasn't all that common back then," she said.

That echoed what Kinchen's mother, Jeanie Kinchen of Salcha, Alaska, remembers.

"He was always a soldier -- from G.I. Joe to video war games -- that's what he always wanted to be," she said Tuesday after her son's funeral.

The couple stood surrounded by friends and Marine officials after their son's burial service, which included an honor guard and a 21-gun salute that shattered the silence at the small rural graveyard off Cemetery Road in Livingston Parish. Curious dogs wandered around the edges of the crowd of mourners.

The Kinchens have lived in Alaska for six years, and Kinchen listed his home state as Alaska, but the family has deep roots in rural Livingston Parish.

The last time Kinchen was in Louisiana was in December. Some relatives tried to encourage him to take a hardship leave because his grandfather, Nathaniel "Bo" Palmer, was sick. Palmer died Thursday, Thursday. The family left Kinchen's burial to go back to the church for Palmer's funeral service Tuesday afternoon.

Kinchen's uncle, the Rev. Clifton Wheat, officiated the service. During the service, he described the two deaths as a "double whammy" for the family.

"This is a time where we should all evaluate our lives," Wheat said.

Kinchen was assigned to a Marine unit in San Antonio. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was attached to the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 8th Regimental Combat Team, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.

Her other son, Colby Kinchen, is a member of the Alaska National Guard. He's on medical hold following a snowmachining accident.

Jeanie Kinchen and her husband, James, both expressed that faith in God is helping them deal with their son's death 15 days after he landed in Iraq. He joined the Marines shortly after he graduated from high school in 2001. This was his second tour in Iraq.

"We have strong Christian faith, and so did Jeremiah. He was ready. We're extremely aware right now that freedom is not free," James Kinchen said.

Kinchen is also survived by a sister, Amie Kinchen.

Kinchen's mother was presented with a Purple Heart. The Purple Heart is a combat decoration awarded to members of the U.S. armed forces who are wounded by the enemy in combat or awarded posthumously to the next of kin in the name of those killed in action or who die of wounds received in action.

Jeanie Kinchen said her son's dream was to serve his country, and he understood that meant he might die.

"That doesn't make it any easier," she said.