TOWN RECALLS YOUNG SOLDIER KILLED IN IRAQ HUMOR, SPIRIT WERE INFECTIOUS.Byline: Susan Abram Staff Writer NEWHALL - His family and friends gathered Monday in Newhall inside an Assembly of God church, though it seemed too small for the memories that swelled of a tall, red-headed soldier who touched so many lives with his sense of humor Noun 1. sense of humor - the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous; "she didn't appreciate my humor"; "you can't survive in the army without a sense of humor" sense of humour, humor, humour and call to duty. More than 300 people filled The Village Church in a suburban neighborhood near Old Town Newhall to remember Army Pfc. Cole W. Larsen, a military policeman who died Nov. 13 in a vehicle accident in Baghdad, Iraq. Larsen was assigned to the 272nd Military Police Company, 21st Theater Support Command, Mannheim, Germany. A few weeks before his death, he returned to Iraq after surprising his family with a visit home. Larsen was 19 and Santa Clarita's second casualty of the Iraq war Iraq War: see under Persian Gulf Wars. Iraq War or Second Persian Gulf War Brief conflict in 2003 between Iraq and a combined force of troops largely from the U.S. and Great Britain; and a subsequent U.S. . Mourners filled pews and extra chairs set out for them. They stood along walls and waited in the foyer and on the front stairs. Many of them were neighbors and school friends who for days wept along with Larsen's family: his father, Ballard; mother, Christi; and sister, Haley, 17. During the surprise visit, he had accompanied Haley to the homecoming Homecoming Odyssey concerning Odysseus’s difficulties in getting home after war. [Gk. Myth.: Odyssey] You Can’t Go Home Again revisiting his home town, a writer is disillusioned by what he sees. [Am. Lit. dance at Canyon High School Canyon High School can refer to:
``I've done many, many funerals, and I don't think I've seen one like this before,'' said Air Force chaplain Capt. Brad S. Agee. ``Cole touched many lives. This speaks volumes.'' Larsen, who as a boy always wanted to be a soldier, was remembered by close friends as an avid outdoorsman, good-natured, popular at school and eager to enlist en·list v. en·list·ed, en·list·ing, en·lists v.tr. 1. To engage (persons or a person) for service in the armed forces. 2. To engage the support or cooperation of. v. in the Army. Growing up on Sam Place in Canyon Country, Larsen could be counted on to help out when needed. He also could be counted on to commit an innocent childhood prank now and then, such as lining the streets with duct tape duct tape n. A usually silver adhesive tape made of cloth mesh coated with a waterproof material, originally designed for sealing heating and air-conditioning ducts. Noun 1. to watch unsuspecting drivers pass over and think a tire had gone flat. In school or his neighborhood, he could be depended on for a good joke. He once was seen taking a chicken for a walk. Canyon Country resident Ed Henneberque, a police officer, said Larsen carried on the tradition of good-natured American soldiers who love their families and home but are willing to serve and even die far away to keep their country safe and make the world better. He said such soldiers, fighting in World War II, made it possible for his own parents to survive the Nazis. ``Millions of Cole Larsens were willing to go to strange places they had never heard of to fight,'' Henneberque said. ``They did this so that my parents could live.'' Larsen's sister said her family was touched by the community support and glad that so many remember his humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was as well as his serious side. ``I liked that they talked about how he had fun,'' she said. And then, with military honors, the younger soldier was laid to rest in a private service at Eternal Valley Memorial Park, where just a few weeks earlier another 19-year-old, Lance Cpl. Richard Patrick Slocum, a 2003 graduate of Saugus High School Saugus High School may refer to:
On Friday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German pronunciation (IPA): [ˈaɐ̯nɔlt ˈaloɪ̯s ˈʃvaɐ̯ʦənˌʔɛɡɐ] ordered flags at the state Capitol to be flown at half staff in Larsen's memory. And at Canyon High, the Hart Union High School District Air Force Junior ROTC honored him with a ceremony before a school football game, also on Friday. The group has arranged for Larsen's and Slocum's names to be engraved en·grave tr.v. en·graved, en·grav·ing, en·graves 1. To carve, cut, or etch into a material: engraved the champion's name on the trophy. 2. on the community Veterans Memorial at Eternal Valley Memorial Park. ``This was truly a great testament to this great boy who became a man and the way he touched so many lives,'' said family friend Corine Jefferson, whose son, Jason, attended school with Larsen. Larsen called her his second mom, she said. Jefferson said she had spoken to Larsen two days before he died. ``He said, `Hi Mom.''' He was sitting on the rooftop of a Baghdad police station and used a satellite phone to make the call, she said. He even joked that Baghdad looks like Palmdale. Jefferson said Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, has grown into a city without losing the feeling that someone like Larsen belonged to the whole community. ``Even though Santa Clarita has grown the way it has, it's still like a small town,'' Jefferson said. ``All of this shows that.'' Susan Abram, (661) 257-5257 susan.abram(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- 3 -- ran in SAC edition only) A local Junior ROTC member stands at attention, top, before a football game Friday, when Canyon High students honored a 19-year-old alumnus ALUMNUS, civil law. A child which one has nursed; a foster child. Dig. 40, 2, 14. , Cole Larsen, who died in military service in Iraq. At far left, a collage collage (kəläzh`, kō–) [Fr.,=pasting], technique in art consisting of cutting and pasting natural or manufactured materials to a painted or unpainted surface—hence, a work of art in this medium. of photos recalls the popular boy and young man who always wanted to be a soldier. At left, the community overflows The Village Church in Newhall at a memorial service for Larsen on Monday. David Crane/Staff Photographer |
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