PFC Kevin Scott Wessel

YAQUINA BAY, OR - Services are pending for a young Army private who has become the first known Coast Guard Auxiliarist to be killed during the current military operations in Iraq.

Private First Class Kevin Scott Wessel, 20, of Newport, Ore. died last Tuesday in Baghdad when a car bomb detonated near him while he was on foot patrol, according to the U.S. Defense Department. Spc. Jacob Pfister, 27, of Buffalo, N.Y., also was killed by the improvised xplosive device.

PFC Wessel was a member of Flotilla 69 in Yaquina Bay, Ore.

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski asked that flags be flown at half-staff Monday (April 25) in honor of Wessel, whose services are pending. "It is sad to hear of the death of another soldier from Oregon," Kulongoski said in a statement. "We are seeing once again that war is taking a heavy toll on our nation's service men and woman, as well as their families and friends."

Flotillla 69 members say PFC Wessel moved from Hawaii to Oregon after graduating from high school in 2003. He dreamed of becoming a Coast Guard surfman at Station Yaquina Bay and, in the meantime, decided to join the flotilla.

LeOra Johnson, who was Flotilla Commander at the time PFC Wessel expressed interest in joining, recalls he took the New Member Examination just one day after he received the Auxiliary's Resource Guide and voluminous Manual. "He had read them cover to cover the night before. He took the exam, passing it with a perfect score," said Johnson.

Flotilla members say PFC Wessel was a quick study, partly because he had undergone extensive training with the Sea Cadets in Hawaii. Johnson says PFC Wessel participated in area familiarization missions and that "his physical condition and endurance was extraordinary."

As reports from Iraq came in, flotilla members noted that PFC Wessel talked about wanting to go there and do his part. "He said he tried to enlist in the Coast Guard, but there was a two-year wait at that time before he would be called up," Johnson recalls. "However, he wanted to go now."

PFC Wessel enlisted after speaking with an Army recruiter. He was told that the Army would take him right away.

After being deployed to Iraq, PFC Wessel maintained contact via e-mail with his flotilla members back in Oregon. "His messages were so descriptive, we could almost feel as though we were there with him," said Johnson. "When his e-mail messages suddenly stopped, we thought and hoped perhaps he was on a mission where he didn't have internet access. But, sadly, that was not the case."

Race Morningstar, a former Coast Guardsman and current Auxiliary member from Alsea, Ore. said PFC Wessel was "really gung-ho. He was just willing to go out and do things." Morningstar adds that PFC Wessel "was a hell of a kid. He would have turned into a hell of a man."

Johnson says that PFC Wessel was "where he wanted to be, doing what he wanted to do; he felt he could make a difference.

PFC Wessel and Spec. Pfister, the other soldier killed in the attack, were both assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division based in Fort Stewart, Georgia.