This website is a memorial to the life of Army Cpl. Carrie Lee French 19, of Caldwell, Idaho.
Carrie was assigned to the 145th Support Battalion, Idaho Army National Guard, Boise, Idaho; attached to the 116th Brigade Combat Team. She gave her life for freedom on June 5, 2005 when an improvised explosive device hit the front of her convoy vehicle and detonated in Kirkuk, Iraq.
Carrie was a fun-loving young woman with a warm heart and a desire to serve. She was loved by everyone who knew her and she is dearly missed.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased...
- Matthew 3:16~17
Carrie was baptized in Iraq, by immersion in a hot tub
In youth we learn, but in age we understand...
Carrie at age 2
Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born...
- Anais Nin
Carrie and her boyfriend, Matt Harvey
"People love others not for who they are but for how they make them feel..."
- Irwin Federman
Carrie and her cousin, Josh. They were very close. Josh was in college to become a minister when Carrie was in Iraq
"The life of every woman is a diary in which she means to write one story, and writes another..."
- James Matthew Barrie
It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us mothers and daughters...
"The family is a haven in a heartless world..."
- Christopher Lasch
Mikala Hylinski, Carrie's sister, places a rose on top of Carrie's coffin - June 15, 2005
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration which may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service.
Awarded for bravery, it is the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces and the ninth highest military award (including both combat and non-combat awards) in the order of precedence of U.S. military decorations.
Carrie was awarded The Bronze Star medal for her actions on June 5, 2008 - Operation Iraqi Freedom
"People are never gone when they live in lives they leave behind; In those whom they have blessed, they live a life again, And shall live, through the years, Eternal life, and grow each day more beautiful as time declares their good..."
- H. Robert Orr
Good friends are like stars...You don't always see them, but you know they are always there...
Carrie, with actor Dean Cain, from the TV series
Lois and Clark, The new Superman, and actress
Thora Birch, who starred
in films such as
American Beauty and
Ghost World
"Dean Cain and Thora Birch (shown in the photo above) were coming to Iraq for a show for the soldiers and Carrie was a huge Dean cane and Superman fan. She and her roommate were going to see them and before they went Carrie did her impression of superman on the pond wall. Her cousin Josh said it looked like she was flying off to heaven.
Josh and some of the other members of his youth group in his church took this picture of her (below) and had it embossed on t-shirts and the saying underneath "Flying up to Heaven" and sold them as a fund raiser to help the children of war in Iraq.
This picture was taken May 31, 2005, 6 days before Carrie died..."
- Paula Hylinski, Carrie's mom
Carrie... just being Carrie
"Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence..."
- Aristotle
The first BBQ in Irag
"It takes a long time to become young..."
- Pablo Picasso
Carrie was a cheerleader at Caldwell High School
"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity
you bring to your life and the lives of people you love..."
- Sophia Loren
Carrie proudly displays her 4 leaf clover tattoo that she got on the top of her foot. It's difficult
to see what it looks like in this picture, but she was so proud of that accomplishment
A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words...
Carrie and very good friend, Marisa (Smith) McCarter. Carrie and Marisa met in Texas when training prior to deployment
"Our passing is not an end if we can live on in those we have touched. For they are us, our bodies are only falling leaves on the tree of life..."
- Albert Einstein
Carrie on the plane from Kuwait to Kirkuk. She was the youngest soldier on the
flight, so she got to sit up front (much to the envy of her fellow flyers)
Life is like a mirror, we get the best results when we smile at it...
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York.
The original idea for the Purple Heart (the Badge of Military Merit) is the oldest symbol and award that is still given to members of the U.S. military, surpassed in history only by the long obsolete Fidelity Medallion.
Carrie was the first female from Idaho to pass away in Operation Iraqi Freedom
"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to protect others at whatever cost..."
- Arthur Ashe
This website is a memorial to the life of Army Cpl. Carrie Lee French 19, of Caldwell, Idaho.
Carrie was assigned to the 145th Support Battalion, Idaho Army National Guard, Boise, Idaho; attached to the 116th Brigade Combat Team. She gave her life for freedom on June 5, 2005 when an improvised explosive device hit the front of her convoy vehicle and detonated in Kirkuk, Iraq.
Carrie was a fun-loving young woman with a warm heart and a desire to serve. She was loved by everyone who knew her and she is dearly missed.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased...
- Matthew 3:16~17
Carrie was baptized in Iraq, by immersion in a hot tub
In youth we learn, but in age we understand...
Carrie at age 2
Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born...
- Anais Nin
Carrie and her boyfriend, Matt Harvey
"People love others not for who they are but for how they make them feel..."
- Irwin Federman
Carrie and her cousin, Josh. They were very close. Josh was in college to become a minister when Carrie was in Iraq
"The life of every woman is a diary in which she means to write one story, and writes another..."
- James Matthew Barrie
It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us mothers and daughters...
"The family is a haven in a heartless world..."
- Christopher Lasch
Mikala Hylinski, Carrie's sister, places a rose on top of Carrie's coffin - June 15, 2005
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration which may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service.
Awarded for bravery, it is the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces and the ninth highest military award (including both combat and non-combat awards) in the order of precedence of U.S. military decorations.
Carrie was awarded The Bronze Star medal for her actions on June 5, 2008 - Operation Iraqi Freedom
"People are never gone when they live in lives they leave behind; In those whom they have blessed, they live a life again, And shall live, through the years, Eternal life, and grow each day more beautiful as time declares their good..."
- H. Robert Orr
Good friends are like stars...You don't always see them, but you know they are always there...
Carrie, with actor Dean Cain, from the TV series
Lois and Clark, The new Superman, and actress
Thora Birch, who starred
in films such as
American Beauty and
Ghost World
"Dean Cain and Thora Birch (shown in the photo above) were coming to Iraq for a show for the soldiers and Carrie was a huge Dean cane and Superman fan. She and her roommate were going to see them and before they went Carrie did her impression of superman on the pond wall. Her cousin Josh said it looked like she was flying off to heaven.
Josh and some of the other members of his youth group in his church took this picture of her (below) and had it embossed on t-shirts and the saying underneath "Flying up to Heaven" and sold them as a fund raiser to help the children of war in Iraq.
This picture was taken May 31, 2005, 6 days before Carrie died..."
- Paula Hylinski, Carrie's mom
Carrie... just being Carrie
"Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence..."
- Aristotle
The first BBQ in Irag
"It takes a long time to become young..."
- Pablo Picasso
Carrie was a cheerleader at Caldwell High School
"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity
you bring to your life and the lives of people you love..."
- Sophia Loren
Carrie proudly displays her 4 leaf clover tattoo that she got on the top of her foot. It's difficult
to see what it looks like in this picture, but she was so proud of that accomplishment
A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words...
Carrie and very good friend, Marisa (Smith) McCarter. Carrie and Marisa met in Texas when training prior to deployment
"Our passing is not an end if we can live on in those we have touched. For they are us, our bodies are only falling leaves on the tree of life..."
- Albert Einstein
Carrie on the plane from Kuwait to Kirkuk. She was the youngest soldier on the
flight, so she got to sit up front (much to the envy of her fellow flyers)
Life is like a mirror, we get the best results when we smile at it...
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York.
The original idea for the Purple Heart (the Badge of Military Merit) is the oldest symbol and award that is still given to members of the U.S. military, surpassed in history only by the long obsolete Fidelity Medallion.
Carrie was the first female from Idaho to pass away in Operation Iraqi Freedom
"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to protect others at whatever cost..."
- Arthur Ashe