By Eunaka Kirby
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2006 The Dallas Morning News
Cassie Nolen didn’t want her husband, Kyle Nolen, to join the military, but it had been his dream since elementary school.
Mr. Nolen, a Navy medic and an Ennis High School graduate, was killed Thursday morning when the military vehicle he was riding in hit a land mine in Anbar province in Iraq. He was 21.
“I am proud of him, and I supported him,” said Ms. Nolen, 21. “But I would have chosen something different.”
Mr. Nolen leaves behind two children, a 3-year-old son, Ryan, and a 5-month-old daughter, Railey.
“He was the best father ... and friend anyone could ever ask for,” his wife added. “He will always be the love of my life.”
He and Ms. Nolen had planned to celebrate Christmas in the spring because he wasn’t expected home until then.
Instead, Ms. Nolen said, family members helped her and her children celebrate Christmas at her mother’s home in Ennis on Monday.
Ryan got an airplane, a pirate ship and a card game, and Railey got a pop-up tent.
Mr. Nolen graduated from Ennis High in 2003. He joined the military in August 2005 and was deployed to Iraq in August of this year.
Ms. Nolen said her husband and some of his friends made a pact in elementary school to join the military.
Mr. Nolen saw enlisting as a good opportunity, said Corey Holy of Ennis, Mr. Nolen’s second cousin.
“He was always trying to better himself,” he said.
Mr. Holy didn’t enlist, but his brother Clint, another of Mr. Nolen’s friends, joined the Air Force. As a medic, Mr. Nolen’s job was to do his best to save soldiers’ lives before they were transported to a medical facility, his wife said.
With the same compassion he used to treat troops in Iraq, he inspired First Baptist Church of Ennis to send care packages to Ellis County men and women serving in the armed forces.
Ms. Nolen, who communicated with her husband by mail every couple of weeks, said he wished his fellow battalion members could receive letters and care packages.
The church began collecting items in October, and the first packages were sent out about Dec. 5, she said.
Mr. Nolen’s mother, Frances Nolen of Ennis, described him as a “great son.”
“He always thought about everybody, and he loved his family,” his mother said.
His father, Michael Nolen of Leonard, Texas, said he was proud of his son and wished he could fish with him one more time.
In addition to fishing, his father said, Mr. Nolen loved being with his family and playing soccer.
Ms. Nolen doesn’t want her husband to be forgotten.
“I want people to know what he was fighting for,” she said, “and even if they don’t support the war, I want them to support the troops.
“He wanted everyone to have the same rights and freedoms that we have.”
Ms. Nolen and her children were living in Twentynine Palms, Calif., where her husband was based, but she plans to move to Ennis. She said she would move into a home the couple had built before Mr. Nolen enlisted.
Memorial services are pending until Mr. Nolen’s body arrives in Ennis.
Mr. Nolen is also survived by four sisters, Angelica Nolen of Ennis, Mikayla Monjaras of Ennis and Tori and Sarah Nolen of Carrollton; and a brother, Shea Nolen of Leonard.