LCpl. Nicholas Kirven

Sitting at the family's dining room table last week, Belle said she was honored to have her son buried in Arlington National Cemetery this past Monday, adding that "he deserved it."

"He was a great Marine because he gave it more than 100 percent," said Belle, 50. "He could accomplish anything he wanted to when he was determined."

With just three weeks left in an eight-month tour of duty, Belle said her son was determined to go to college after getting out of the Marine Corps.

Only weeks before his death, Belle said her son was talking about attending George Mason University and working for his stepfather Michael Belle's construction company on the side. Beth Belle said they were planning to throw Kirven a huge "welcome home" party next month at the family's beach house in Rehoboth, Del.

But those plans and many more evaporated around 9 p.m. May 8 when a gunnery sergeant and Navy chaplain arrived at the Belles' home to deliver the devastating news.


The making of a Marine

Kirven grew up in Fairfax County and attended area schools for most of his life. Belle described her son as being a "bright but bored" student, who attended six different schools during the last six years of his formal education.

After passing through Chantilly and then Paul VI high schools, Kirven moved to Richmond to live with his father, Leo Kirven. He graduated from Douglas S. Freeman High School in 2002.

A natural athlete, Kirven played on CYA basketball teams for six years and was a longtime member of SYA's Division I soccer team, the Rangers.

More than anything else, though, Beth Belle said Kirven's friends and family remember him as a charismatic jokester.

"Everyone wanted to be around him because he just had this infectious personality," Belle said. "He was the guy who would moon everybody from the bottom of the pool. That was just the way he was."

Despite his penchant for clowning around, Belle said her son took his military career extremely seriously. While still in high school, 17-year-old Kirven got special permission from his parents to enlist in the Marines early.

"He said to me, 'Mom, I know this scares you, but this is what I really want, and, when I turn 18, I'm going to do it anyway," Belle remembered. With his family's blessing, Kirven entered boot camp and after graduating was stationed at the Marine Corps' Kaneohe Bay base in Hawaii.

After completing a physically grueling program to become a scout swimming instructor, Kirven told his family he would be shipping out to California. But in mid-October of last year, he received a new assignment.

"He told me, 'Mom, I'm not going to need to know how to swim where I'm going,'" Belle said.

While serving in Afghanistan, Kirven designed a Web site to keep in touch with his family, featuring photos of himself and his Marine buddies. The site made no reference to the dangerous operations the Marines were mounting.

"He was very careful to shelter things from me," Belle said. "He'd say, 'Oh mom, you know I'm not allowed to talk about what I'm doing.'" It was only when Belle peeked at the e-mails Kirven sent to his stepfather that she realized how much danger her son was in.

Despite being in a combat zone, photos of Kirven from the Web site show a cheerful, confident young man who seemed at ease in his surroundings. According to Belle, when Kirven did request items from home, he would ask for food or beanie babies to pass out to Afghan children.

"The photos he loved the most were the ones of the children," Belle said. "He would tell me, 'Don't worry about us, mom; we're fine, it's the children that need things.'"



Son, brother, hero

As hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their last respects to Kirven at St. John Neuman Church in Reston Monday, family and friends spoke about how the young Marine's life had inspired them.

Michael Belle, Kirven's stepfather, who coached him in soccer, said he learned many lessons from his stepson during the 16 years they shared.

"As a coach and a father, he showed me an extraordinary amount of respect, when the fact was, he knew the game better than I did," Michael Belle said, adding, "Nicholas was not my blood, but our relationship was deeper than blood."

Looking down at Kirven's flag-draped coffin, 26-year-old Joe Purcell, Kirven's older stepbrother, revealed how the younger man's service had pushed him to join the military himself.

"He inspired us to have the courage to pursue our dreams. When I saw Nick graduate from boot camp, he motivated me to follow his lead and join the fight," said Purcell, who is now a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. "The only reason that I'm where I am today is because of Nick."

Kirven is survived by his mother, stepfather and father, as well as a sister, Pride Kirven, 22, and half brother, Joseph Belle, 14.