Navy Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Kevin A. Houston

Remember Our Heroes

Navy Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Kevin A. Houston, 35, of West Hyannisport, Mass.

Navy Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Houston was assigned to an East Coast-based SEAL team; died Aug. 6, 2011 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when the CH-47 Chinook helicopter in which he was riding was shot down.

Kevin Houston served three tours in Afghanistan. His friends back home in Cape Cod say he was passionate about being a SEAL.

Kevin Houston's mother says he was born to be a SEAL.

"If he could do it all over again and have a choice to have it happen the way it did, or instead work at McDonald's and live to be 104? No. He'd do it all over again," Jan Brown told the Cape Cod Times.

Brown brought up her son in Hyannis, Mass., as a single mother.

Christopher Kelly, whose daughter was a friend of Kevin's, became the young man's mentor and father figure. Kelly, a Vietnam veteran, says Houston would always make time to visit Cape Cod when he had leave even though he made his home in Chesapeake, Va., with his wife and three children. Houston was 36 when he was killed.

He was a football captain at Barnstable High School and joined the Navy not long after he graduated in 1994. He became a SEAL in 1999.

His boyhood friend, Joe Kennedy of Osterville, Mass., told the newspaper that Kevin told him the day they met in elementary school that he was going to be a Navy SEAL. "I had no idea what that was," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said friends on the Cape are planning a memorial service for him. Family and friends also held a service Thursday in Chesapeake.

Chief Petty Officer Houston, 35, was a native of West Hyannisport, Mass. He enlisted in the United States Navy in January, 1995.

After completion of Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois in April, 1995, he attended Service School Training at Lemoore, California in May, 1995. He then reported to Strike Fighter Squadron 195 in Yokosuka, Japan in June, 1995. After serving in Japan, he reported to Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron 2 at North Island, California in July, 1996. He then attended Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training at Coronado, California. After graduating BUD/S, he was assigned to an East Coast based SEAL Team in May, 1999. In December, 2005, he reported to Naval Special Warfare Group TWO. In January, 2008 he reported to his East Coast based SEAL Team.

Chief Petty Officer Houston’s awards include the Bronze Star Medal with ‘V’ device for valor (2), Purple Heart, Joint Service Commendation Medal with ‘V’ device for valor, Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal (2), Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation, Battle “E” Rbbon,Navy ‘E’ Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal (3), National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal (2), Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Rifle Marksmanship Medal, and Pistol Marksmanship Medal.

Navy Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Kevin A. Houston was killed in action on 8/6/11.