Lance Cpl. Jason T. Little Hometown

Min Hee "Andy" Kim killed in combat

As the son of South Korean immigrants, Andy Kim was deeply indebted to the United States for providing his family with economic opportunity.

Fulfilling his childhood dream of joining the U.S. Marine Corps enabled the 20-year-old college student from Ann Arbor to express his gratitude.

Kim, a 2004 graduate of Pioneer High School, gave the last full measure of his devotion Wednesday in Iraq when he was killed in a skirmish during a routine patrol in Fallujah in volatile Anbar province.

He had been in Iraq for about six weeks and was the fifth Michigan Marine to die in combat in the province during the past two weeks.

Kim, a lance corporal, was a member of the Marine Reserve's 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Charlie Company.

"When people read this, they are going to say, 'Oh my gosh, what a waste that he died so young,' " Kim's 17-year-old brother, Isaac Kim, a senior at Pioneer, said Saturday.

"Yes, his life was short, but he lived a full life and died for something he loved and believed in."

Andy Kim was born Min Hee Kim in 1986 in Maryland. His father, Don, came to the United States in the early 1980s to study business and is a branch manager of a company that sells Asian food products to U.S. customers. Kim's mother, Mi Hea Kim, is a homemaker.

They moved to Ann Arbor when Kim was 10.

Isaac Kim said his brother played junior varsity tennis, recreational hockey and violin in the school orchestra at Pioneer.

But his real passions were serving Jesus and becoming a Marine.

Isaac said Andy Kim wrote to a Marine recruiter when he was in elementary school to inquire about joining the Marines. But the recruiter told him he was a bit too young.

When he was a sophomore he joined Harvest Mission Community Church, a nondenominational, multicultural congregation in Ann Arbor, and became a Christian.

"He was well-liked and loved by everyone," his pastor, David Shin, said Saturday. "He was always doing things to make people laugh and smile and to lift their spirits. ... He always was the first one to volunteer for anything that needed to be done."

After graduating from Pioneer, Kim enrolled at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., to study political science.

He also enlisted in the Marines.

After completing a semester at Purdue, he began basic training at Parris Island, S.C.

Although he had an opportunity to become an engineer, he wanted to be in the infantry to be with frontline troops, Kim's brother said.

After returning from training, Kim enrolled at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and completed a semester before his company was activated to prepare for Iraq.

Kim trained at Camp Pendleton in southern California, returned home for two weeks, then went back to California before shipping out to Iraq in mid-September.

When he called home or sent e-mails, he told family members that he was fine, his brother said, because he didn't want to worry them.

About 10 days before he was killed, he called home again.

"For the first time he said he was tired," Isaac Kim recalled. "He said they weren't getting much sleep because they were always out on patrol."

Isaac Kim said he knew his brother had been killed when three Marines, including a chaplain, showed up on his doorstep Wednesday afternoon.

He said the Marines are helping the family make funeral arrangements.

A memorial service is being planned for Friday at a funeral home in Ann Arbor, he said.

Kim will be buried with full military honors on Nov. 15 at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.