The Young American Soldiers Killed In The Kabul Airport Bombing

 

Photo: Regi Stone via AP On the right is Lance Corporal Rylee McCollum, of Bondurant, Wyo., a Marine among 13 U.S. troops killed in the Kabul suicide bombing. He was celebrating Christmas 2019 at the home of his friend Eli Stone (left). McCollum, 20, was married and his wife is expecting a baby in three weeks, AP reports in profiles of those lost. "He was so excited to be a dad, and he was going to be a great dad," a sister, Cheyenne McCollum, said. She said her brother "was a Marine before he knew he was allowed to be a Marine ... He'd carry around his toy rifle and wear his sister's pink princess snow boots and he'd either be hunting or he was a Marine." McCollum said her brother wanted to be a history teacher and a wrestling coach once he completed his service. Lance Corporal Kareem Mae'Lee Grant Nikoui, of Norco, Calif., 20, sent videos to his family hours before he died, showing him interacting with children in Afghanistan. In one clip, he asked a young boy to say hello. "Want to take a video together, buddy?" Nikoui said, leaning in to take a video of himself with the boy. "All right, we're heroes now, man." The Norco High School Air Force Junior ROTC posted on Facebook that he was "one of our best Air Force JROTC cadets ... Kareem was set on being a Marine & always wanted to serve his country." Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, 31, of Utah, had been a Marine for 11 years. His father, Darin Hoover, who lives in a Salt Lake City suburb, said he heard from Marines throughout the day yesterday who said they are grateful they had his son as their sergeant. "They look back on him and say that they've learned so much from him," Darin Hoover said. "One heck of a leader." Nate Thompson of Murray, Utah, first met Hoover when they were 10 years old in Little League football. They stayed friends through high school, where Hoover played lineman. He was undersized for the position, but his heart and hard work more than made up for it.

3. Part 2: Great young Americans

Photo: Riverside County Sheriff's Department via Facebook Above is Hunter Lopez, 22, a Marine who was killed in the Kabul bombing. His parents work at the Riverside County Sheriff's Department in Southern California, and he was a sheriff's Explorer for three years before joining the Marine Corps in September 2017. Lopez planned to follow in his parents' footsteps and become a Riverside County sheriff's deputy after his deployment, AP reports in profiles of those lost. Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, 20, grew up in the St. Louis area and was among a group of Marines sent back to Afghanistan to assist with evacuation efforts, his father, Mark Schmitz, told KMOX Radio. Mark Schmitz said his son always wanted to be a Marine. He said he learned of his son's death when the Marines came to his home in Wentzville, Missouri, at 2:40 a.m. Friday. "This was something he always wanted to do," his dad recalled, "and I never seen a young man train as hard as he did to be the best soldier he could be." Lance Corporal David Lee Espinoza, 20, a Marine from Laredo, Texas, joined the military after high school. "He was just brave enough to go do what he wanted and to help out people," his mother, Elizabeth Holguin, told the Laredo Morning Times. "That's who he was. He was just perfect." A flag flies at half-staff yesterday at Mt. Soledad National War Memorial in La Jolla, Calif. Photo: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images Share this story. ... Read more.