Published: March 06, 2006 11:33 am      

Viewing of Marine Memorial Service Set

By MARY KAYE DAVIS



WOODLAWN — As a tribute to their son, the parents of Lance Cpl. Kyle Price will host a viewing of his Marine memorial service held shortly after his death in Iraq.

The viewing will be held 7 p.m. Friday at Woodlawn Christian Church.

Price, 19, died Jan. 13 while guarding Marine engineers near Ramadi, Iraq.

The event will also give Price’s parents, John and Cheryl Hunsell, and other family members a chance to thank the public for their support during the family’s tragedy.

“We wanted to thank everyone because we truly believe the residents of Woodlawn, Mt. Vernon and all of Jefferson County and the surrounding counties deserve to be thanked,” John Hunsell said. “We teach our kids to say thank you, and adults also need to take the time to say thank you.

“We also wanted to show the memorial service to people just to show how much Kyle touched people wherever he went, including the war zone,” Hunsell said.

The Marine service was held Jan. 17 at Camp Blue Diamond in Ramadi, the camp which houses the command for the 2nd Marine Division, according to the U.S. Marines.

Price, a graduate of Woodlawn High School, was deployed in August as part of a detachment providing security for the Blue Diamond camp.

According to a synopsis of the memorial event, many of the people who spoke characterized Price as a Marine who had a “big heart and ever-present smile.”

While deployed to Iraq, Price took on many roles within his platoon. He served as a rifleman and conducted more than 150 combat patrols to root out insurgents and weapons caches in the surrounding area.

Additionally, Price served as a spotter for U.S. military working dog teams when they accompanied his squad on patrol or during operations. He operated the squad’s metal detector when conducting weapons-cache searches.

Price also served as the squad’s dedicated combat photographer, capturing images of suspected insurgents and their safe houses as well as other images for intelligence-gathering purposes.

“In each of these capacities, he excelled,” Capt. Ryan E. Crais, Price’s commanding officer, said during the memorial service. “Rarely have I seen a young man give so much and excel in every endeavor.

“Price was a consummate war fighter,” Crais said. “Like the flip of a switch, he could go from a friendly conversation with locals on a patrol to quickly shifting gears, snapping up every vehicle he saw and capturing insurgents. He had that special balance, the kind required for an insurgency, a compliment to him as a war fighter and an inspiration to every Marine here.”