Ryan J. Sorensen

Marine from Boca killed in Iraq battle Ryan J. Sorensen died Sunday fighting insurgents. He always wanted to serve, his father says.

By Tania Valdemoro
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 09, 2005

A 26-year-old Marine from Boca Raton was killed during an assault against Al-Qaeda-led insurgents in an Iraqi border town near Syria, the Department of Defense said Tuesday.

Lance Cpl. Ryan J. Sorensen died Sunday from enemy small-arms fire during fighting in Husaybah, a market town along the Euphrates River about 200 miles northwest of Baghdad, according to the Marine Corps public affairs office.

He is the 10th Iraq casualty from Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.

"Ryan wanted to be an officer but wanted to do some tours as an enlisted infantryman first," said Sorensen's father Jim, who returned to Boca Raton from Virginia after the family was informed of his son's death. The elder Sorensen had open heart surgery two weeks ago.

"He told me, 'I can't lead people in that environment unless I've been in that environment,' which I think is highly respectable," Jim Sorensen said.

Though Sorensen always wanted to be a Marine, his joining the corps surprised his family, his father said. Sorensen was known as a "motorhead" who constantly tinkered on a red 1992 Camaro. Before joining the Marines, he studied at the Wyoming Technical Institute in Laramie, where he learned to build race cars and was later certified as a mechanic. When he returned to Boca Raton, Sorensen worked at Firestone.

"He learned early on he was good with his hands," his father said. "Building race cars was something he could do for himself, by himself that had a tangible result."

In his spare time, Ryan Sorensen surfed and built his own surfboard.

He was known as a tough guy at home, someone who "could not be beaten," his father said. When he was 2 or 3 years old, Ryan grabbed two barn kittens by their tails from a neighbor's farm in Wisconsin and showed them to his parents as the kittens kept scratching his arms and face.

"Ryan was happy as heck he was able to catch them," he said.

The Marine also loved Christmas, said his mother, Rebecca. "You have to decorate for Christmas (even though) I won't be home," he told her.

Sorensen was assigned to Marine combat units working with 1,000 Iraqi troops, who initiated the assault code named "Operation Steel Curtain" on Saturday. He led a three-man team in Husaybah. The two Marines with him were seriously wounded in the assault.

U.S. officials say Husaybah is an Al-Qaeda stronghold and entry point for foreign fighters and weapons coming into the country from Syria. The town was once home to about 30,000 people.

A CNN reporter traveling with the troops there said ground forces were fighting house to house, working through the narrow streets with Humvees and tanks. U.S. military officials said they were meeting tough resistance, but plan to control the town long-term. Officials said Tuesday that the town is secure.

The military hopes the Husaybah operation will help restore sufficient security in the area to enable the Sunni Arab population to participate in the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.

The U.S.-led assault is also seen as a test of the fledgling Iraqi army's capability to battle insurgents.

Sorensen was born on Aug. 9, 1979 in Racine, Wis. He graduated from Boca Raton High School in 1998. In addition to his parents, he is survived by his older sister, Marie Keyte, of Hernando.

Funeral arrangements are pending, the family said.

Staff writer Kathleen Chapman and the Associated Press contributed to this story.