Soldier killed in Iraq 'only thought of others'

GRIEF: Friends and family gather to mourn the death of Pfc. Kenny F. Stanton Jr.

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, October 16, 2006

By HERBERT ATIENZA and JAMIE AYALA
The Press-Enterprise

A Hemet High School graduate who was a budding journalist and a youth leader at his church has become the latest Inland serviceman -- and the third from his school -- to be killed in the war in Iraq.

Pfc. Kenny Francis Stanton Jr., 20, of Hemet, died Oct. 13 in Baghdad from injuries he suffered after a bomb detonated near his armored Humvee, U.S. Army spokesman Sheldon Smith said Monday.

Smith said the incident occurred about 9:10 p.m., Baghdad time, while Stanton was inside the vehicle on patrol. He said it's uncertain if the bomb was set off after the vehicle ran over it or if it was set to explode remotely.

Stanton had been assigned to the 57th Military Police Company in Waegwan, Korea, but was in Iraq as part of his assignment rotation, Smith said.

Stanton's death follows those of two other Hemet High alumni who were killed in Iraq. Marine Cpl. Michael Estrella, 20, died in June and U.S. Army Specialist Jason Chappell, 22, died in January 2004.

"Hemet High is back in sad times," Assistant Principal Larry Kinney said about Stanton, who graduated in 2004.

Stanton's death has brought sadness to his friends and family, who gathered Monday at their Hemet home. Inside, they set up a small shrine bearing pictures, including of Kenny Jr. in uniform; mementoes, including his Army diploma; and messages of remembrance from friends and family.

"He was big hearted. He only thought of others," said his mother, Gloria L. Stanton, who fought back tears as she described the last time she spoke with her son last week. In that conversation, she said, he said everything was fine and urged her not to worry.

"He wanted to know how everybody was doing," she said.

She said he had urged her not to read the news about Iraq or worry too much about him.

His father, Kenny Stanton Sr., said it was like his son to try to paint a better picture of the situation so as not to cause worry for his parents.

"He wanted to protect his mom," Stanton said.

Stanton said military personnel knocked on their door on Saturday morning to tell them what happened.

Born in Downey, Stanton Jr. was a loving child who did well in school, his father said. He was the oldest of four children and was active in youth ministry at their church, Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church.

Stanton said his son was a reporter for the Hemet High newspaper, The Bulldog, and enjoyed sports, such as wrestling and basketball.

Stanton Jr. also enjoyed poetry and had thought about becoming an English teacher, his father said.

He said Stanton Jr. was active in youth ministry at church.

Stanton Jr. joined the Army because he wanted to make a difference and have the time to decide what to do in college, his father said. He attended boot camp at Fort Leonard in Missouri and was then transferred to South Korea. He was deployed to Iraq in July and was to stay there for a year, his father said.

"He was a great brother," said his younger brother, Mario, 17, a senior at Alessandro High School. He always checked on Mario to make sure he kept up with studies. "He was always concerned about the family and he told me take care of the family."

Hemet Vice-Mayor Marc Searl said the community shares in the family's grief and shows how the war in Iraq touches everyone.

"I don't think there are any words to express that kind of sorrow and heartache," he said. "This thing that's happening in Iraq affects the whole country."

After reviewing his transcripts, Kinney said, Stanton was the kind of student teachers wanted in their class.

Keith Rossi had Stanton in Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition. He said Stanton was eager to share ideas, inquisitive and always up for a challenge.

Kinney said the school is considering hanging a plaque in honor of the three alumni in the school's Freedom Shrine. The patriotic display on the second floor of the school's two-story classroom building includes historical documents such as the Bill of Rights and the Gettysburg Address.

Stanton kept an online journal on MySpace.com. There he wrote about what he thought was important.

"The key to freedom lies within the soul of the mind. We need the heart to (breathe) and to survive, but when the soul of the mind is deceased, then you are dead."

As the news of his death reached his friends, his Web page has logged a number of messages.

One friend wrote: "You were a wonderful person with a wonderful heart. You had room for everyone there and that's where you kept us all."

© 2006, The Press-Enterprise Company

Mario Stanton, 17, left, brother of Kenny Stanton Jr. who was killed Oct. 13 in Iraq, and Ivonne Vasquez, 17, console one another as Army Sgt. First Class Anthony Tellez leaves the Stanton home in Hemet. Stanton, 20, died from injuries he suffered after a bomb detonated near his Humvee.

William Wilson Lewis III / The Press-Enterprise

http://www.myspace.com/romeo_casanova

Kenny has a bunch of photos there and other postings, plus some kind comments from his myspace buddies.

Kenny wrote there:

About me:
Times change and so do people. You never can get things right. The more you try the harder things get and you make a fool of yourself. We have dreams and our minds trick us into believing that these dreams are real. After the solitudes of our minds break the barriers of which we hold these thoughts to be true, we get hit with reality and you slowly begin to realize that aspirations are meant to be kept while you are asleep. We fail to realize that we can no longer live the past or fix it. Whats done is done. We live in a world of chameleans and no one knows who they really are. Some live danger, some live free, others live in the chains of our minds. It is said that the heart is the key to freedom, that is bullshit. Thy key to freedom lies within the soul of the mind. We need the heart to breath and to survive but when the soul of the mind is deceased then you are dead. There is no feelings and there is no thoughts. What have we lived for then if we know not what we do. The ever so changing times makes the mind change and we forget who we are. I am complicated. That is me. The soul of my mind has led me to belive what it wants. I live in a world that my soul has created me to live in. What better way to suffer than that of outside pain. Complicated to the world and to the depths of which we live in. The ever so changing depths of our mind.

Posted on Tue, Oct. 17, 2006

Former Hemet High School journalist killed in Iraq

Associated Press

HEMET, Calif. - He had worked on the high school paper and been a youth leader in his church, but Kenny Francis Stanton Jr. wasn't sure what he wanted to do in college, so he decided to joined the Army until he could plot out his future.

Pfc. Stanton, 20, died Oct. 13 in Baghdad of injuries suffered when a bomb went off near his Humvee while he was on patrol, U.S. Army spokesman Sheldon Smith said Monday.

Assigned to the 57th Military Police Company in Waegwan, Korea, he had been sent to Iraq in July.

"He was big hearted. He only thought of others," said his mother, Gloria L. Stanton, fighting back tears as she sat at home among mementos of her son, including his Army diploma and photos of him in his uniform.

The oldest of four children, Stanton was active in youth ministry at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church and had worked on the Hemet High School newspaper, The Bulldog.

"He was a great brother," said his 17-year-old brother, Mario. "He was always concerned about the family and he told me take care of the family."

Stanton enjoyed poetry and had thought of someday teaching English, said his father, Kenny Stanton Sr., but until he figured out his future plans he decided to join the Army and try to make a difference in the world.

He was the third alumni of Hemet High School to be killed in Iraq. Marine Cpl. Michael Estrella, 20, died in June and U.S. Army Spec. Jason Chappell, 22, died in January 2004.

Stanton's mother told the Riverside Press-Enterprise she had spoken with her son just last week and he told her to avoid reading the news about Iraq and not to worry about him.

"He wanted to protect his mom," Stanton's father said.

© 2006 AP Wire and wire service sources.

10/18/2006 GAAS:764:06 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Print Version

Governor Schwarzenegger Issues Statement on Death of Hemet Soldier: Pfc. Kenny F. Stanton
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today released the following statement regarding the death of Pfc. Kenny F. Stanton of Hemet.

“Each time we lose a member of our armed forces we are reminded of the sacrifices made for our freedom. Pfc. Stanton bravely assumed the risks that go along with serving our country. Maria and I want to send our heartfelt sympathies to Kenny’s family. He will be fondly remembered by all who knew him.”

Stanton, 20, died Oct. 13 as a result of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad, Iraq. He was assigned to the 57th Military Police Company, Waegwan, Korea.

In honor of Pfc. Stanton, Capitol flags will be flown at half-staff.

MILITARY DEATHS
Army Cpl. Kenny F. Stanton Jr., 20, Hemet; killed by a roadside bomb
By Valerie Reitman
Times Staff Writer

October 22, 2006

When Army Cpl. Kenny Francis Stanton Jr. first tried to enlist in the military after graduating from Hemet High School, he was rejected because of his childhood asthma and seizures.

But that didn't deter his determination to serve.

He reapplied — without citing the childhood afflictions that hadn't recurred for years — and he was off to Army boot camp in Missouri. He spent a year with the 57th Military Police Company in Waegwan, South Korea, before his unit shipped off to Iraq in July. He forged deep bonds with three other young soldiers in his unit who called themselves "the four brothers."

While patrolling Baghdad on Oct. 13, Stanton was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near his Humvee just two weeks after his 20th birthday. Two others were injured.

Stanton's father, Kenny Francis Stanton Sr., said his son had hoped to use military education benefits to earn his bachelor's degree in education and one day return to teach English at his high school alma mater. He hadn't been satisfied by the single semester of junior college courses he took at Mount San Jacinto College before enlisting.

"He'd say, 'Dad, when I'm done, I can do my military service and go to college,' " the elder Stanton recalled. He said his son had hoped to start classes once he completed his one-year tour in Iraq and shipped out to Hawaii for the remainder of his five-year enlistment.

The 5-foot-6 Stanton ran cross country and wrestled in high school. He was popular with girls — he named his MySpace.com website "Romeo_Casanova" — but primarily he was their friend, they said.

His personality, literary talent and compassion came through in a monthly column he wrote for the school newspaper, the Bulldog, called "Ask Kenny," said close friend Paul Nuñez. He also liked to read and to write poetry and essays.

"I read a lot and I like to be knowledgeable," Stanton wrote on his Web page. "Anything that really makes my mind jump out and use what the Lord gave me. I love to write and any book that lets me use my imagination is a good book to me."

Friends and family described Stanton as outgoing, fun and empathetic, with a joking side but also a serious side.

His sister, Terry, 12, recalled how he tutored a boy who had been home-schooled for years and inspired him to return to school. "My brother was supposed to come back and tutor me and help me with math and language arts," she said. "He was just a great person."

"He was open to new experiences, always liking to meet new people, and he always had a smile," said Nuñez, whom Stanton called his "brother from another mother" because he looked so much like him. In high school, the duo played Xbox racing and sports video games for hours, and Nuñez became a fixture at the Stanton house

The friends also spent time helping out at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church in Hemet on activities such as planning games and discussion topics for a youth group, and arranging Mother's Day bouquets.

The Stanton home has been filled throughout the week with their slain son's friends, who come by every day for a few hours just to be with and comfort the family. And to mourn. Sometimes they tell stories and reminisce. And sometimes there's just nothing to be said.

"They just sit here and we all look at each other," his father said. "They're trying to be as comforting as they can."

Stanton tried to protect his parents from worrying about him by minimizing the danger in Iraq, telling them not to believe what they see and read, that "it's not that bad." He would never tell them exactly where he was in Iraq so they wouldn't worry if they heard about explosions or casualties in various cities.

"I'm so proud of what he accomplished," his father said. "He was a beautiful person, so warm-hearted, so open-hearted and very caring and loving. I don't know any other way to describe him."

His buddies in the 57th Military Police Company or their parents have called and written, telling his family how much Stanton was loved and will be missed. One of his fellow soldiers called to say she was hanging out with him the night before he died and told her, "Don't forget, I love you." The other members of the "four brothers" poured out their pain on MySpace postings.

"The tears of the remaining three are still raining to this day," wrote one brother named Ambrose. "The four brothers might have lost one of their own, but he will always be here with us, in our hearts…. We love you Kenny, I love you brother. I shall continue on in your love and memories that you gave to us."

Stanton's website is filled with photos of him and his fellow soldiers. Some are serious — of him and his buddies at work — and some are corny — such as one of him and some friends kidding around with a life-size Colonel Sanders statue. As his heroes, he lists "my mom and dad."

Now, many of his friends and Army buddies have updated their MySpace websites to name a new hero: Kenny F. Stanton Jr. Wrote a team leader: "R.I.P. Kenny Stanton … An American Hero that is respected and loved like none-other! I miss you my friend."

In addition to his father and sister Terry, Stanton is survived by his mother, Gloria; a brother, Mario, 17; a sister, Brandie, 13; his grandparents, Kilmer Stanton of Downey and Rafael and Gloria Espinosa of Tecate, Mexico; and several aunts, uncles and cousins.

A wake will be today at Miller-Jones Funeral Home in Hemet. Services will be Monday at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church, with burial at Riverside National Cemetery.


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valerie.reitman@latimes.com

Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times