Oregon Marine who died in crash remembered as hero from the start

By Jeff Barnard

Associated Press

COOS BAY, Ore. — Last November, Bruce Bryant arranged for members of his son’s Cub Scout den to write letters to Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Bryan Bertrand — the son of a fellow teacher and coach — to learn about his role in the war on terrorism as part of hero month.

One by one, the boys stood in front of their families and friends at the monthly Cub Scout pack meeting and told something they knew about Bertrand. He was born and raised on the Oregon Coast. He played outside linebacker for Marshfield High School. He was a crewman on board a Marine Corps KC-130, flying troops, fuel and equipment around the world.

And he was a hero.

Wednesday night, Bryant had to tell his son, 7-year-old Conner, that the young man they had all written to and were looking forward to seeing on his next leave home was dead after his plane crashed into the side of a mountain in Pakistan.

"The fact that we are at war didn’t hit home until yesterday and we found this out,’ said Kent Wigle, Marshfield’s head football coach, as he supervised boys playing basketball in the school gym. "You just don’t realize the consequences."

Linebacker coach Bill Lilley added, "The price of freedom is pretty expensive, and we’re paying it in Coos Bay today."

Bryan Bertrand was born in Coos Bay, a city of about 15,000, where his father, Bruce, teaches social studies at Marshfield and coaches basketball. His mother, Patty, teaches elementary school in neighboring North Bend. Bryan was the youngest of three kids, but the only son.

His last visit home was in July, when he attended the wedding of his sister, Rebecca Peters.

"We’re proud of him," Peters said outside the family home, which is on a steep hill overlooking the high school, where the flag was at half-staff and TV trucks packed the parking lot to chase the story of a hometown boy who died far away. "In one of his letters, he said he didn’t want to come home because he didn’t want to be on the sidelines."

Coos Bay is ringed by lush hills covered with fir trees. Many of the homes overlook the wood products mills and docks on the bay, the industrial heart of the city.

On Friday nights in the fall, folks pack the Marshfield stadium to watch the Pirates.

"Bryan was concerned about how the team did Friday nights, not how many points he had in a basketball game or tackles in a football game," Wigle said.

Wigle’s earliest memory of Bryan was as a sixth- or seventh-grader helping his dad, the high school basketball coach, paint Wigle’s house. Bryan would sleep in the van until it got too hot, then hang around the varsity football players helping Wigle build a deck until his dad put him to work.

When Bryan went out for football himself, he worked hard to earn his spot and never lorded it over the younger kids, Wigle said.

Casey McCord remembers the same thing. Bryan dated Casey’s sister, Wendy, in high school when Casey was a seventh-grader. If Casey asked Bryan to go outside and shoot some baskets, Bryan was happy to. If Bryan and Wendy were watching a video, Bryan never kicked Casey out.

"He was like a big brother to me," Casey said.

Bryan kept in touch with Wendy, and had telephoned her the day before the crash, saying he hoped to be home for a visit soon, Casey said.

After graduating in 1997, Bryan went to College of the Redwoods in Eureka, Calif., where he played football, but decided academic life was not for him, Wigle said.

That surprised Sarah Griffith, who was two years ahead of Bryan in school. He had been a good student, the son of her favorite teacher, and she expected him to take the traditional path of college and career. But when she saw him a couple years ago at the Coos Bay Fun Fest, he was on leave from the Marine Corps, where he had a job that took him all over the world.

"He smiled and said, ‘School didn’t work out for me, so I’m traveling the world and learning that way,’ " recalled Griffith, who is looking forward to teaching in China after earning her master’s in history. "That was just so inspirational. He was just a really grounded guy.

"His words keep coming back. ‘You get to travel the world and meet all these people. What’s wrong with that? You get to drink a beer with people in Japan.’ "

Bryan went to the Marine Corps looking for a physical challenge, but ended up succeeding at a technical one, Wigle said. To earn his spot on the crew of the KC-130, Bryan had to go through rigorous classroom training. Each step up, Bryan made the grade.

Bruce Bertrand was proud his son had found success, Bryant said.

"His son was working hard and found something he really loves and was making the cut," Bryant said.

Teammate and pal Christian Lorenz had considered joining the Marines with Bryan, but chose to be a firefighter instead. He remembers Bryan as the guy you most wanted next to you when times got tough — a guy who always had a smile on his face.

"He truly loved the Marine Corps," Lorenz said. "When he got back from boot camp, it was Marine Corps this, Marine Corps that.

"Last year I think he went to 21 countries. That’s one thing he loved about it. He got to see the world."

Bryan had a chance to rotate back to the states, but stayed on his overseas mission, said Bryant.

"He liked to be part of something and work hard while doing it," said Bryant. "There’s not a lot of people you can say that about."