A Fort Lewis infantryman was killed Thursday after he was shot north of Baghdad, the military and the soldier’s family members said Friday.
Pfc. Willard M. Powell-Kerchief, 21, was from Evansville, Ind., according to the Department of Defense. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, part of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Strykers from Fort Lewis.
Powell-Kerchief was shot during combat operations in Taramiyah, a Tigris River farming town about 25 miles north of the capital.
He died later in Balad, where the U.S. military maintains a large combat support hospital.
Family members told the Evansville Courier & Press that military officials told them Powell-Kerchief was shot in the head.
He joined the Army after graduating from high school in 2005.
He at first wanted to join the Marines, but his mother, Sunny Powell, said she discouraged him.
He got a job at a bottling plant, but a few months later he approached his mom again about joining the service – the Army this time – and she relented.
He enlisted in February 2006 and arrived at Fort Lewis the following June, post officials said.
Powell told the paper that when her son returned home after basic training at Fort Benning, Ga., he “felt good about the decision he made.”
His high school observed a moment of silence Friday night before its season-opening football game.
Friends said he was active in his church youth group and Bible study group, played intramural basketball, was a top bowler and loved the St. Louis Cardinals.
Cory Thacker, a high school classmate, said Powell-Kerchief persuaded him to come along to the Bible study group.
“The best thing I ever did was pick up the Bible with him and learn about God. It completely changed my life around,” Thacker told the Courier & Press.
He is also survived by his father and stepmother, Willard and Linda Kerchief, and his stepfather, Mark Powell, the newspaper reported.
Powell-Kerchief is the 19th soldier from the brigade to be killed since it left Fort Lewis in April, a month ahead of schedule as part of the surge of U.S. forces into Iraq.
The brigade had gone nearly a month without losing a soldier but now has suffered two killed in three days.
Pfc. Shawn D. Hensel, a 20-year-old also from Indiana – he was from Logansport – was killed Tuesday in Baghdad.
Hensel’s death is being investigated as a case of possible fratricide, military officials said.
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