When Hollywood casts a Marine, it thinks Rambo and Lance Cpl. Travis Layfield seemed born to that role. Family and friends gathered Thursday in Fremont, CA, to remember Layfield, 19, who was killed by hostile fire Tuesday in Iraq. They recalled a young man who, from almost Day One, was fascinated with the military, wars, soldiers and guns, a Marine in every sense. And so much more. His heart was so big. Diane Layfield learned of her son's death Tuesday night. She was returning home from her grandson's Sunnyvale baseball game when three uniformed Marines entered her gated apartment complex. They hadn't said a word. But she knew. "I just lost it," she said. Two neighbors grabbed her, holding her up. The officers escorted her upstairs. One knelt by her side, giving her what little news he had. The Department of Defense is reporting that Layfield, assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, was one of nearly 20,000 Camp Pendleton Marines trying to quell insurgents in the area in and around Al-Fallujah and Ar-Ramadi. The area is a stronghold of anti-Western fundamentalists and the epicenter of resistance to coalition forces. Layfield was killed on a day when there were at least 12 Marine casualties in Ar-Ramadi. His grandfather was a Navy Seabee in WW II, and he has a cousin and uncle in the Army. Travis embraced Marine life with gusto, sporting a "Devil Dog" tattoo and a feather tattoo, symbolic of his Lakota Sioux background. Though deeply proud of their son, John and Diane Layfield, who are divorced, do not support the war.
When Hollywood casts a Marine, it thinks Rambo and Lance Cpl. Travis Layfield seemed born to that role. Family and friends gathered Thursday in Fremont, CA, to remember Layfield, 19, who was killed by hostile fire Tuesday in Iraq. They recalled a young man who, from almost Day One, was fascinated with the military, wars, soldiers and guns, a Marine in every sense. And so much more. His heart was so big. Diane Layfield learned of her son's death Tuesday night. She was returning home from her grandson's Sunnyvale baseball game when three uniformed Marines entered her gated apartment complex. They hadn't said a word. But she knew. "I just lost it," she said. Two neighbors grabbed her, holding her up. The officers escorted her upstairs. One knelt by her side, giving her what little news he had. The Department of Defense is reporting that Layfield, assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, was one of nearly 20,000 Camp Pendleton Marines trying to quell insurgents in the area in and around Al-Fallujah and Ar-Ramadi. The area is a stronghold of anti-Western fundamentalists and the epicenter of resistance to coalition forces. Layfield was killed on a day when there were at least 12 Marine casualties in Ar-Ramadi. His grandfather was a Navy Seabee in WW II, and he has a cousin and uncle in the Army. Travis embraced Marine life with gusto, sporting a "Devil Dog" tattoo and a feather tattoo, symbolic of his Lakota Sioux background. Though deeply proud of their son, John and Diane Layfield, who are divorced, do not support the war.
