Cpl. Kevin S. Mowl, born a hero, died a hero

DEAN J. KOEPFLER/THE NEWS TRIBUNEEmotions flood Staff Sgt. Kenneth Hoffman on Friday at the new North Fort Lewis Chapel during at a memorial for Cpl. Kevin S. Mowl, who died last month from injuries he suffered last year in Iraq.

Another Soldier gone Corporal was loved, admired by many
MICHAEL GILBERT; mike.gilbert@thenewstribune.com
Published: March 15th, 2008 01:00 AM

Fort Lewis paid its respects Friday to a soldier who struggled for seven months to overcome wounds he suffered when a bomb hit his Stryker vehicle last August.

It was a horrific blast, soldiers said. Three men on the truck died instantly, and four others were critically injured, including Cpl. Kevin S. Mowl.

The 22-year-old from Pittsford, N.Y., was evacuated to the United States and fought to recover from a traumatic brain injury and other wounds at Bethesda Naval Medical Center.

But the injuries proved too much. Although his family expressed opti- mism about his recovery in their Web diary, Mowl suffered a reversal and died Feb. 25 of septic shock following one of many surgeries he endured.

His unit, the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, gathered for a memorial ceremony Friday at the new North Fort Lewis Chapel, along with his parents, Harold and Mary, and sister Carlene, from New York.

“We visited Kevin here at the base about three times before he was deployed into Iraq,” said Harold Mowl, speaking through a sign-language interpreter.

“We have many good memories of him while we visited here,” he said, “and we have very good memories of our lives with him.”

Mowl is the superintendent of the Rochester, N.Y., School for the Deaf, where the soldier was a beloved visitor during midtour leave last year. Growing up as the hearing son of deaf parents, he knew sign language and told students at the school about his travels and experiences in the Army.
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In most of their stories you see that they were doing something good for people even before they put on their uniform and most of the time, they were doing it when they were out of their uniform too.

“He was thinking about going back to teaching, or getting into some area where he could help with world peace and conflict resolution,” Mowl said. “He was thinking about both of those options, but either way he probably would have gone back to school.”