LI Marine Killed in Iraq
At Hauppauge home of his mom, Pentagon tells her that her son and a fellow Marine died in an explosion
BY SAMUEL BRUCHEY
STAFF WRITER
October 29, 2005
Nancy Young Kremm came home from work Thursday and wanted to write a letter to her son in Iraq.
She said she wanted to tell Jared, a lance corporal in the Marines, that everything was great, that he'd be home very shortly, and how happy she'd been to receive his letter one day earlier.
But before she could heat up her tea and sit down at her kitchen table, two Marines knocked on her door.
A U.S. Department of Defense news release said Jared Kremm, 24, of Hauppauge, and a soldier from Cleveland, were killed Thursday "from an indirect fire explosion" in Saqlawiyah, Iraq.
Kremm was in the 2nd Marine Division, assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. He was the 13th soldier from Long Island killed in Iraq.
Kremm's mother said she had not been told the details of her son's death.
"They told me that I didn't want to hear it," she said, "that he had extensive damage to his head and the rest of his body. And they tried even though they could see it was hopeless."
Kremm died at the scene, the military said.
Kremm graduated from Hauppauge High School, where he played football and lacrosse. He then attended Suffolk County Community College and enlisted after 9/11. He trained at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and shipped out a year ago. Kremm returned in March, was on leave in April, then shipped out again last month, his mother said.
"He believed in everything he did," said Kremm's mother. "He told me that it was something that was necessary. He joined to make a difference."
Kremm said her son was a crew leader in the special forces. Their mission was to train Iraqi police officers, she said.
Other than that, Jared told her little about his life in Iraq.
In a letter she received from him this week, he told her he loved and missed her, and that the mission was going well. "He candy-coated everything for me," she said. "He tried to make me feel that he was in a resort."