A 23-year-old U.S. Marine had yet to meet his infant son born after his deployment to Afghanistan when he died Friday.
Private
First Class Steven Stevens grew up in Detroit and went to Afghanistan
on March 21—just days before his son was born March 29, family members
said.
“I’m sorry that he never got a chance to see his son,”
said his grandmother Dorothy Atkins, 85. “I wish he could have had that
blessing.”
The officers who told Stevens’ family about his
death said the preliminary report showed he was hit with shrapnel from a
rocket-propelled grenade, said Dwight Atkins, Steven’s uncle.
The U.S. Department of Defense had not released information on Stevens’ death on its website as of this morning.
“He's
going to be sadly missed,” Atkins said. “But like my mother used to
tell me, his work on Earth was done, and God called him home.”
Stevens’
body is scheduled to arrive at Dover Air Force Base today. His wife
Monique, who lives in Florida, and parents Steve and Lois Stevens, both
of Detroit, are there, relatives said.
“He leaves this world way too soon,” Dwight Atkins said.
The family’s faith is helping them through this time.
“We’re spiritual people,” Dwight Atkins said. “We just believe God will answer and God will take care of us.”
Stevens
grew up in northwest Detroit, attended Detroit Technology High School
and went to Florida A & M on a swimming scholarship, his uncle said.
As
a baby, Stevens had asthma, so the doctor suggested finding a sport
that would help him breathe, relatives recalled. Stevens’ mother put him
in the swimming pool and he had been a swimmer since.
“He took to the water like a fish,” his uncle said.
 |
Steven Stevens, a Marine who was killed in Afghanistan on Friday,
June, 22, 2012, who attended Detroit Technology High School in Detroit,
is shown with his mother and father at a swim meet. Stevens family photo
|
After two years of college, he joined the Marines to serve his country.
Family members say the thought of traveling the world and studying
abroad was enticing to him.
“He quit college in order to join,” his grandmother said. “I guess he had the calling because he just went and joined.”
Stevens
was good in art, wanted to be an architect, loved to laugh and was a
jokester who was good at imitations, his family recalled.
“People who know him know he was a very funny guy,” Dwight Atkins said.
The
Rev. Louis Forsythe II, pastor of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in
Detroit, said he knew Stevens as a teenager and remembered him as
polite, quiet young man who loved his family very much.
Forsythe
said he told his congregation about Stevens’ death during the church’s
two services Sunday.
He asked members to stand for a moment of silence
in memory of Stevens.
“He was willing to give his all for his country,” Forsythe said. “It speaks to his commitment.”
Stevens’
funeral is to be held Saturday at Hope United Methodist Church, 26275
Northwestern Hwy. in Southfield. Arrangements are pending.
Washington Time
Kabul Time
London Time
