PITTSFORD, NY, USA U.S. Army CPL, COMPANY A, 2D BATTALION, 3D INFANTRY, 3 SBCT, FORT LEWIS, WA BETHESDA 02/25/2008
Some Fallen Heroes suffer more than others. Death does not always claim its victim immediately. It may wait months for the final outcome.
Corporal Kevin Scott Mowl fought death for nearly seven months while his body and mind tried to recover from a horrible explosion caused by an improvised explosive device that flipped his vehicle in Baghdad. The explosion killed three other Soldiers and injured eleven others plus an interpreter. Corporal Mowl suffered multiple broken bones and a head injury on August 2, 2007 and he was evacuated to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. While there he received the Purple Heart from President George W. Bush. Although he received excellent treatment – and care – while at NNMC, death finally claimed him on February 25, 2008.
Although born on October 24, 1985, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kevin spent most of his life in Pittsford, New York, a town southeast of Rochester. He attended Pittsford Schools until the 11th grade and graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy in 2003. Kevin enrolled at Alfred State University and spent his freshman year there before joining the Army in August 2004.
Corporal Mowl was assigned to Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team based at Fort Lewis, Washington when he deployed to Iraq. He served as a Stryker vehicle driver, squad automatic weapon gunner, and radio operator. Kevin fought in Operation Iraqi Freedom in both Mosul and Baghdad, Iraq from June 2006 until August 2, 2007 when his Stryker vehicle struck the IED in Baghdad.
In 2006 he returned home on leave and decided to visit the Rochester School for the Deaf, where his father was the superintendent. Using sign language, he told the students about Iraq and his sense of purpose while serving in the Army. Senior Derrick Behm said: “We don’t know a lot of Soldiers here. We are all deaf, and we can’t be soldiers. We don’t get to meet those kind of people very often.”
Kevin is survived by his loving parents Harold and Mary Mowl of Pittsford, sister Carlene Mowl of New York City, and grandmother Jane Mowl of Pittsford. His remains were interred at White Haven Memorial Park near Pittsford.
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