Fallen friend’s memory drives Vermont father, son

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Colleen Bushnell
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  While growing up in the lush Green Mountains near South Burlington, Vt., he was considered part of the family. Ultimately, the childhood playmate and best friend became a hero when he gave his life as a Marine in battle.

The memory of Marine Cpl. Mark Evnin is what puts the fire in the fight of Tech. Sgt. James Kehoe and his son, Senior Airman Travis Kehoe. It helps the two endure the 12-hour shifts, the boot-melting heat and the saturating humidity as they work together to keep F-16 Fighting Falcons in the air, supporting the war on terrorism.

The Kehoe’s, both assigned to the Vermont Air National Guard’s 158th Fighter Wing, known as “The Green Mountain Boys,” are deployed to Southwest Asia supporting operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Sergeant Kehoe, an F-16 avionics technician, has been with the unit 17 years. His son, an F-16 weapons loader and weapons-release specialist has been with the unit for four years.

The Marine’s death resonates among the people of the 158th Fighter Wing. Like a family, fellow Airmen in the wing rallied around them and Corporal Evnin’s mother, Mindy, when he was killed in Iraq, April 3, 2003.

With the support of Corporal Evnin, Airman Kehoe followed his father into the Guard. It was a kind of pact between the two friends -- Corporal Evnin entered the Marine Corps, and Airman Kehoe entered the Air Force a year later.

“We were best friends. We’d dress up in military clothes, play with little soldiers and go to the Army-Navy store all the time,” Airman Kehoe said. “We were both going to join the Marines, but something about the jets changed my mind.”

As the two progressed in their respective services, they kept in close contact. Airman Kehoe, a sophomore at Burlington College, studied cinematography and film production as he served out his six-year commitment in the Vermont ANG. He would call Corporal Evnin, assigned to the 1st Marine Division based at Twenty-nine Palms, Calif., and the two would compare achievements.

Airman Kehoe said with a laugh, “Mark was angry that I got rank faster than he did.”

And when Corporal Evnin was to deploy to Iraq in February 2003, just before he boarded the aircraft for departure, he called on Airman Kehoe to watch over his mother. That would be the last time the brothers in arms spoke.

On the night of April 3, 2003, Sergeant Kehoe and his wife, Michelle, got the call that Corporal Evnin had been killed in a firefight in Al Kut, Iraq. The Marine sniper was killed when an Iraqi militant fired on his unit -- he was hit just beneath his flak jacket. They woke Travis out of his sleep and delivered the news to their unsuspecting son.

“I looked into the faces of my parents and I felt nothing,” Airman Kehoe said. “I couldn't comprehend what they had told me. I walked over to the phone, picked it up and began dialing the number I had dialed since I was 7 years old. It was the only number I knew better than my own, and then it hit me, Mark was dead.”

Delivering the news was a moment in time Sergeant Kehoe will never forget, he said.

“It was like telling my son a brother had been killed.”

Understanding the circumstances behind Corporal Evnin’s death provided some closure to Airman Kehoe.

“Mark was standing by a Humvee when a guy just stood up and sprayed (gunfire),” he said. “He lost a lot of blood and died on the (medical evacuation) flight.”

Losing Corporal Evnin was like losing a family member to the Kehoes, as he had spent most holidays with them, in part, and enjoyed many of life’s milestones with the Kehoe family.

“Mark was like a son to my wife and me," Sergeant Kehoe said. "He would come home and spend Christmas Eve with our family and he had been a welcome face at our house since about the age of 7. We were, and are, devastated from the loss. He will always be my hero.”

Since Corporal Evnin’s death, Sergeant Kehoe said he has never had second thoughts on his son serving in the military.

“I never felt Travis, I, or anyone should leave the military," he said. "It will always be someone's son or daughter paying the ultimate price to defend freedom in the world. When 9-11 struck, Travis was in technical school. He wanted to come home immediately and serve with the unit in support of Operation Noble Eagle. The military is a great way of life, but freedom is never free.”

Now that Corporal Evnin is gone, Airman Kehoe intends to continue serving. After he gets his bachelor’s degree, he intends to pursue a career in script writing and plans to transfer his enlistment to California as a result. Though he may choose to live out West, his roots with the Green Mountain Boys will stay forever planted, he said.

“I’m proud to be a Green Mountain Boy," Airman Kehoe said. "I had the best feeling the other day when two jets were called in to help some Marines who needed (close-air support.) I wish we could be here to drop a bomb on the people that were shooting at Mark, but I’m glad I can be here to help others now.”

While at their forward-deployed location, the father and son team work together on aircraft from time to time, spend social time with their unit and hold fast each day for the next crisis or the next sortie return -- only to prepare the aircraft to return to battle.