Gentle leader, rugby brute mourned

Lt. Col. Austin Renforth, Shea's best friend and rugby teammate, pauses while speaking at his funeral friday. Photo by: Lance Cpl. Samuel B. Valliere
Gentle leader, rugby brute mourned
Submitted by: MCB Camp Pendleton
Story Identification #: 2004101165424
Story by - Brian La May

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Sept. 30, 2004) -- Maj. Kevin Shea was a gentle yet commanding leader and a shining star of higher learning, according to mourners who attended his memorial here Friday and others who knew him down through the years. He also was a champion of parenting and a wrecking ball on the rugby pitch, they said.

About 250 family members, friends and co-workers turned out for Shea's send-off - one of at least three memorials for him around the globe. Shea, from Seattle, an Air Force Academy graduate and veteran of both wars in Iraq, died Sept. 14 - his 38th birthday - in a rocket attack on Camp Fallujah, where he was serving Regimental Combat Team 1 as a communications and information systems officer.

Shea, selected as a lieutenant colonel before he died, will be posthumously promoted this week when he's laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., where he was born. He also was nominated for the Bronze Star Medal only a month before his death.

"He led from the front and he led by example," Lt. Col. Austin Renforth, a longtime Shea friend and fellow rugby player, said to the gathered mourners. He then turned to Shea's children and added, "Your father was brave, and it was an honor to fight alongside him."

A day earlier and thousands of miles away at Camp Fallujah, RCT-1 members also memorialized Shea.

"Lt. Col. Shea was a role model Marine. He was everything a Marine should be," said Lance Cpl. John H. Wells, 20, from Choctaw, Okla., and a radio operator with RCT-1.

Meanwhile, back in Annapolis, Md., where Shea taught electrical engineering and coached rugby before being sent off to war, a highly anticipated rugby match between two staunch rivals, the Naval Academy and Air Force - where Shea was a standout defensive end on the football team - has been canceled. The Navy team, ranked No. 3 in the nation, bowed out to attend Shea's memorial and interment later this week at Arlington. Players voted unanimously to forgo the game in honor of Shea, according to Maj. Jeff Nagel, who first met Shea when the two played for the Camp Pendleton Ghostriders in the early 1990s.

Shea, who already possessed a master's degree in electrical engineering, nonetheless was declared an honorary graduate by his students at the academy as a token of their esteem, Nagel said.

"It's a rare honor (bestowed for) having one of the biggest impressions of anyone here," Nagel said.

Shea also made a big impression as a Marine leader, Nagel said. He had all the raw tools - humility, compassion, intelligence, strength. But despite all those attributes, he never rested on his laurels, Nagel said.

"Kevin is one of a rare breed, whether as a rugby player or an officer," Nagel said via telephone from his office at Annapolis. "He had sheer talent, but unlike a lot of others, he was always willing to put in the time. That's why he rose to the top."

Shea's refinement in more civil circles belied his aggressiveness on the rugby field. A man well over 6 feet tall and a lean 200-plus pounds, Shea could pound carcasses with a fury few players could match.

That's why Shea was enlisted to play opposite Al Framo, a fearsome Marine suiting up for Eglin Air Force Base, in a quarterfinal round of the Military National Championships back in 1994, Nagel said.

Framo - a "complete animal" on the rugby pitch, Nagel said - was battering the Ghostriders. They needed an equalizer.

Enter Shea. Subsequently, Shea and Framo converged in an "atom smashing" collision that brought a hush over the entire pitch.

"They were spinning like tops. The game just stopped," said Nagel, adding he'd never seen such a violent collision before or since.

Shea's sheer power hints at the only criticism ruggers ever leveled against him. A few accused him of being a bit of a ball hog. Nagel disagrees, but understands why some who didn't really know Shea might view him that way.

Shea, a surprisingly swift open-field runner and a bulldozer down near pay dirt, just knew that sometimes, when the team was struggling for an offensive breakthrough, he often could provide it.

"He wasn't a great passer, but he could run through you. He was an incredible athlete," Nagel said about Shea, who played defensive end at the Air Force Academy and appeared in the 1989 Freedom Bowl.

Shea was not only one of the Corps' top ruggers, he was "a Marine's Marine" by multiple accounts, a "very humble guy" and "true warrior," Nagel said.

Shea cut his teeth in the Corps as a junior officer in force recon, the Marine Corps' vaunted special forces.

Nonetheless, he never talked himself up and wasn't given to barroom bombast, even though rugby players typically reconvene at a nearby pub after games. Shea would sometimes attend but wouldn't stay long.

"He was sociable but not gregarious," said Bill Warren, the Ghostriders' longtime manager.

But he didn't need a whole lot of face time to win folks' allegiance. People knew he was special.

"People really thought the world of that guy. They really respected him," Warren said. "He had the ability to have you follow him and get you to do things he wanted you to do without coercion. He could get people to act."

Like when he had players running on their knees during practice - a training technique he borrowed from force recon.

Shea's "ramrod frame" and force recon roots evoked fear on the pitch.

"He was ... a hardcore kind of guy. His physical presence was so imposing, but he wasn't once you knew him," said Lt. Col. Sam Pelham, who played with Shea here in the early 1990s and coached with him at the Naval Academy. "He was very kind and gentle - a pleasure to be with.

"It's such a loss for the Marine Corps and for rugby," Pelham said.

One of Shea's troops in Iraq echoed Pelham.

"Lt. Col. Shea will be missed a lot. It is going to take another great person to fill his shoes," said Lance Cpl. Chance P. Solomon, 19, a radio operator with RCT-1.

But nothing can match the loss suffered by Shea's wife, Ami, and two children (Brenna, 10, and Michael, 7) who were blessed with a model father, Nagel said.

"If I put in half the time he put in with his sons, my son will have nothing to complain about," Nagel said.

Lance Cpl. Samuel B. Valliere and Lance Cpl. Miguel Carrasco contributed to this story. E-mail LaMay at lamaybe@pendleton.usmc.mil.

-30-

Photos included with story:

Lt. Col. Austin Renforth, Shea's best friend and rugby teammate, pauses while speaking at his funeral friday. Photo by: Lance Cpl. Samuel B. Valliere

Kevin M. Shea
Leiutenant Colonel,United States Marine Corps

NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense
No. 911-04
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sep 15, 2004
Media Contact: Marine Corps Public Affairs - (703) 614-4309 Public/Industry Contact: (703)428-0711

DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Major Kevin M. Shea, 38, of Washington, D.C., died September 14, 2004, due to enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California.

For further information related to this Marine contact the Camp Pendleton Public Affairs Office at (760) 725-5044.

Friday, September 17, 2004

Rocket fire kills Marine major
By Susan Gilmore
Courtesy of The Seattle Times

KM Shea PHOTO

Major Kevin Shea was killed in an attack near Fallujah.

Last month Major Kevin Shea, a Marine fighting in Iraq, was nominated for a Bronze Star with Valor. But he never told his family.

"That goes to his character, how modest he was," said Major Shea's brother, Dan.

Kevin Shea was killed Tuesday by rocket fire in the Al Anbar province of Iraq, near Fallujah. It was his 38th birthday.

A 1984 graduate of Seattle's Bishop O'Dea High School, Major Shea graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy before joining the Marines. While at the academy, he lettered in football, played in the 1987 Freedom Bowl and was a member of the academy's 1989 rugby team, which won the collegiate national championship.

He fought in the Gulf War, taught and coached rugby at the U.S. Naval Academy. He was promoted to the rank of major in 1999 and earned a master of science degree in electrical engineering at the Naval Postgraduate School in California.

Major Kevin Shea, 38, nominated for a Bronze Star, will be posthumously promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.

Major Shea was to return to his home in California in November, with a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel.

"We thought he'd turned the corner in terms of risk," said Dan Shea. "But from Day One there was risk, and he knew it."

Dan Shea said his brother will be posthumously promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and will be the highest-ranking Marine to have died in the Iraq war.

While at O'Dea, Major Shea played football and was named to the all-Metro team as a senior.

"In the past 48 hours I've been humbled with thoughts about what a great man he was," said O'Dea classmate Joe Bundrant of Edmonds. "Kevin was special. Strong and powerful, a tender warrior."

O'Dea held its 20th reunion this summer, and Major Shea was unable to attend. But Bundrant passed out pictures of Major Shea and his family.

"He started out as a pudgy freckle-faced kid and worked his way into a giant with hard work," Bundrant said.

He said the school is hoping to organize a memorial for him at O'Dea and a fund to help his family.

Earl Hanley, an O'Dea teacher who is involved with alumni relations, said he knew Major Shea well.

"He was an outstanding young man," he said. "An effective leader, good student and mature solid young man."

He was shown a photo of Major Shea at the O'Dea reunion. "You never think for a moment tragedy would come so soon."

Besides his brother Dan, Major Shea is survived by his wife, Ami, and two children, ages 10 and 7; his parents, Bill and Eileen Shea, and his brother Tom, all of Washington, D.C.

Dan Shea said his brother will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Local Soldier Killed On His Birthday
September 17, 2004
By Kimberly Hill

KM Shea PHOTO

SEATTLE, Washington - Major Kevin Shea was big man, he stood 6' 4" and weighed 220 pounds. He was a graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy and a Gulf War veteran.

But he had a softer side.

"We called him the gentle giant because he was so big and imposing," said Alison Shea, the Major's sister-in-law. "He was a real softy, a great dad with a great sense of humor. He was just a great guy."

Major Shea was being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He was coming home for a command at Camp Pendleton. He'd be close to his wife and two young children.

But on his 38th birthday, he was hit by rocket fire near Fallujah.

It was a devastating blow to his family.

"He was the big brother," says Alison Shea. "We really looked up to him. It's a loss than none of us are ever going to get used to."

Shea's former teacher at Bishop O'Dea High School in Seattle remembers him as the real package -- smart, accomplished and one heck of an athlete. But it was his gentleness that resonated.

In an email, a classmate described him as "a much needed gentle soul in an area where hatred is trying to carry the day."

"I remember him as a freckled and pudgy freshman," says Early Hanley quoting an email from a classmate. "By the time he graduated he was a star defensive lineman. But he never picked on anyone."

Hanley also remembers an email from Major Shea when he couldn't make the class reunion.

"Kevin finished with saying 'take care of yourself and tell the old gang sorry about missing the reunion,'" recalls Hanley. "It must be the old Irish luck again."

Major Kevin Shea will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Posted: 18 September 2004

Purple Heart Medal

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