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In Memoriam |
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In Memoriam |
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SSgt. Donnie Levens
(reprinted from SunHerald.com, February 25, 2006)
Long Beach Marine takes final flight home
GULFPORT - Friends and family gathered at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport Friday night to receive the body of Staff Sgt. Donnie Levens, a Marine killed in a helicopter crash last week in North Africa.
Levens, 25, of Long Beach, was based at New River, N.C., with the 2nd Marine Air Wing. He was deployed to Djibouti, Africa, and went down in a helicopter crash that killed nine others.
All those gathered, including his mother, Margaret Levens, said he had been living his dream.
"He enjoyed his choppers and his life was wrapped around those things," she said.
Levens, in a second tour with the Marines, was killed on his mother's birthday.
Matthew Levens said his brother was very considerate of others.
"When they would fly missions, he would make peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches for the other crew members," Matthew Levens said.
Levens joined the Marines out of high school in 1998. His recruiter, Gunnery Sgt. Shane Nixon, said Levens was a good salesman for the Marine Corps.
"He was bright and motivated, and he was all about the Marine Corps. He brought in referrals to the recruitment office," Nixon said.
Besides the Marine Corps, Levens had a passion for his black Pontiac Trans Am and his black German Shepherd, Sierra.
Levens' visitation is set for Friday from 5 until 9 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Long Beach. A burial mass will be Saturday at noon at the same church, with visitation from 10 a.m. until the service begins. Burial follows at Pine Ridge Gardens in Gulfport.