2 Marine sons lost, neither in war action

2 Marine sons lost, neither in war action
A Minnesota family suffers a "crushing" blow as brothers die in accidents four years apart.

By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE, Star Tribune

Last update: December 7, 2009 - 1:38 PM


Ryan Pape graduated from high school the day after his older brother, Marine Cpl. Riley Pape, was buried in a country cemetery near the family farm north of East Grand Forks, Minn. Riley, 22, had survived deadly fighting in Iraq's Anbar Province only to lose his life in a motorcycle accident after returning to California.

Now, after following Riley into a Marine reconnaissance battalion and serving two tours in Iraq, Ryan is gone, too -- like his brother, a victim not of combat but a horrible accident in California. He died Thursday during a parachute training exercise for an elite unit of warriors. He was 23.

"It just isn't right," said the Rev. Bud Johnson, the Pape family's pastor and himself the father of veterans. "When they were deployed, we were on edge all the time. When they get back, you have a sense of safety."
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