Army Staff Sgt. Kenneth W. Mayne

Remember Our Heroes

Army Staff Sgt. Kenneth W. Mayne, 29, of Arvada, Colo.

SSgt Mayne was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died Sept. 4, 2008 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. Also killed was Pfc. Bryan R. Thomas.

Funeral Saturday for Arvada soldier killed in Iraq
The Associated Press

DENVER — Gov. Bill Ritter has ordered that U.S. and Colorado flags be lowered on public buildings Saturday in honor of a soldier from Arvada who was killed in Iraq.

Twenty-nine-year-old Staff Sgt. Kenneth Mayne died Sept. 4 in Baghdad after his vehicle came across a bomb. The explosion also killed 22-year-old Pfc. Bryan R. Thomas of Battle Creek, Mich.

Both were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Mayne grew up in Arvada, where his mother and stepfather still live. He graduated from Arvada West High School in 1997.

His funeral is set for Saturday at Fort Logan National Cemetery.

Sergeant turned his life around in the Army
The Associated Press

Among Kenneth W. Mayne’s last wishes were these: Everyone wears Hawaiian shirts to his memorial service. No one wears black. And someone plays Jimmy Buffet, preferably “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”

“That’s his one last laugh at all of us,” said his cousin Josh Mayne.

Mayne, 29, of Fort Benning, Ga., was killed Sept. 4 by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. He was a 1997 high school graduate and was assigned to Fort Hood.

The Army turned out to be just what Mayne needed after a trouble-filled youth. He grew bigger, stronger, more mature and responsible.

“He’d come home, and we’d sit back, awe-struck,” Josh Mayne said. “All the people in life who said, ‘You’re a screw-up’ — he could look back and say, ‘Look what I did.”’

On a recent trip home, Mayne showed the family a photo of his combat team. In it, there were about 60 people, all dressed in camouflage and hiding in various poses.

He asked if anyone could spot him. They could. “He was the only one waving to the camera,” Josh Mayne said. “There were some things you couldn’t change about him.”

He is survived by his mother and stepfather, Michelle and Dan Benavidez.

Army Staff Sgt. Kenneth W. Mayne was killed in action on 9/4/08.