Times Herald-Record -- Narrowsburg — Anthony Kaiser lost his mother to cancer. He lost his brother to a car accident. He left the state police after his dream went sour.

He didn't get discouraged. He never lost heart, rarely let people know when he was down.

Kaiser's big heart was silenced Saturday in Iraq. He is the 17th local service member to be killed in the war in Iraq since March 2003.

His unit "came into contact with enemy forces using small-arms fire," the Department of Defense announced yesterday. Pfc. Anthony Kaiser, 27, died of his wounds. "We are devastated," said Marilyn Kelly, his stepmother.

Kaiser, a 1998 graduate of Narrowsburg High School, grew up in Skinners Falls. He swam in the Delaware River. He watched "The Dukes of Hazzard." He roared down country roads on his three-wheeler.

He shot at targets for hours with a handgun, so he'd be ready to be a policeman. As a boy, he told his big brother, Brian, that's all he wanted to be.

Once he set his mind on something, Anthony Kaiser wouldn't let go. "He was strong, one of the strongest people I knew," said Shawn Esselman, a boyhood friend.

Kaiser suffered a lot, but you wouldn't know it. When he was 13, his mother, Stephanie, died of cancer. Brian was killed in a car accident in 1997. After that, Kaiser quietly worked off his grief as a volunteer at the Narrowsburg Fire Department, said his stepbrother, Michael Kelly.

"After he lost his brother, I think he wanted to do something good for the community," Kelly said. "He got to know us and he got that connection, and he got sucked in, helping the community, helping the country."

Kaiser tried the state police. He graduated from the academy in December 2004 and was assigned to Troop C in Sidney. But it turned out that what he had dreamed about for so long wasn't what he wanted to do, and he left, Kelly said.

In 2005 he joined the Army, following his younger brother, Steven, who served 18 months in Iraq and is now stationed in Hawaii.

Kaiser was assigned to the 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade, out of Fort Lewis, Wash. Kelly said he spoke to Kaiser in January; Kaiser said he was training Iraqi soldiers. The Army would not say what Kaiser was doing in Iraq and wouldn't comment on the circumstances surrounding his death.

"He wasn't crazy about being there," Kelly said. "He understood he was there to do a job and do the best job he could. When his time was up, he was looking forward to coming home."

Kaiser's wife, Heather, was waiting for him in Fort Lewis. She is too distraught to talk much, even to Kaiser's family. And they don't yet know when Kaiser's body will be returned.

His father, Andrew Kaiser, went to work yesterday at Catskill Regional Medical Center in Harris. He has lost two sons and a wife. He wanted to get his mind off things.

"He is holding up OK as long as he is not talking about it," Marilyn Kelly said. "Once he starts talking about it, he breaks down and cries. It has been a very difficult couple of days."

==Another news story==

FORT LEWIS, Wash. — An Army paratrooper who died in action in Iraq has been laid to rest in Colville, and services were pending for two soldiers from this post south of Tacoma.

In the latest war deaths, a memorial service was planned March 20 for Cpl. Brian L. Chevalier, 21, of Athens, Ga., a member of the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, and arrangements were pending for Pfc. Anthony A. Kaiser, 27, of Narrowsburg, N.Y., a member of the 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade.

A funeral was held in Colville last weekend for Spc. Ryan Michael Bell, 21, a rifleman with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Chevalier, an infantryman who recently re-enlisted for six more years in the Army, died March 14 after his armored vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in Mufrek, near Baqouba, about 35 miles north of Baghdad, according to the Pentagon. He leaves a 5-year-old daughter.

Chevalier’s battalion was moved north from Baghdad earlier this week to combat a rise in insurgent activity outside the capital.

He joined the Army in August 2005, arrived at Fort Lewis the following January and was on his first deployment to Iraq. He was the 14th member of his Stryker brigade to die since the unit was sent to Iraq last summer.

His father, Rick Chevalier, told the Zanesville Times Recorder of Zanesville, Ohio, last week that his son left Ohio at age 6 and lived in Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas and Georgia with his mother, June Sager, who resides in Athens.

“I remember him as a good kid, kindhearted, fun-spirited and smart as a whip,” Chevalier’s father said.

“He learned to walk early, talk early, and got his first bicycle at 1 year old,” he said. “He got good grades and was never in trouble.

“He joined the Army on his own as something he wanted to do. He wanted to make something of his life. He defended his country, and it’s too bad it had to happen this way.”

Kaiser, a military policeman, died March 17 of wounds from small-arms fire after his unit encountered enemy forces, military officials said March 19. His wife, Heather, was living at Fort Lewis. Relatives said they were awaiting word on the return of his body for a memorial service.

“We are devastated,” said his stepmother, Marilyn Kelly.

He grew up in Skinners Falls, N.Y., and was a 1998 graduate of Narrowsburg High School. He worked for the Narrowsburg Fire Department and the New York State Patrol before joining the Army in 2005. His younger brother, Steven, is stationed in Hawaii following 18 months in Iraq.

Kaiser’s mother died of cancer when he was 13 and his older brother, Brian, died in a car accident in 1997.

“After he lost his brother, I think he wanted to do something good for the community,” his stepbrother, Michael Kelly, told the Middletown, N.Y., Times Herald-Record. “He got to know us and he got that connection, and he got sucked in, helping the community, helping the country.”

Kelly said Kaiser told him in January he was training Iraqi soldiers. The Army would not discuss Kaiser’s assignment in Iraq or provide details on the circumstances surrounding his death.

“He wasn’t crazy about being there,” Kelly said. “He understood he was there to do a job and do the best job he could. When his time was up, he was looking forward to coming home.”

Hundreds of people jammed the sanctuary and social hall of the Colville United Methodist Church for Bell’s funeral on Saturday.

“We are here to honor Ryan Michael Bell and his selfless service,” the Rev. Fred Agtarap said. “We salute him and give thanks to God for the gift of Ryan.”

Bell, a rifleman trained as a sniper and medic, was among six soldiers who died March 5 in a roadside bombing while they were on patrol in Samarra.

Colville Mayor Dick Nichols declared Saturday “Ryan Bell Day” and told his father, Mike Bell, during the service, “Colville shall forever be indebted to you and your son and for the supreme sacrifice he has made for our national security.”