Army Pfc. Cole W. Larsen loved the outdoors and spent weekends in the hills riding his motorized dirt bike and hunting with his father. The 19-year-old military policeman put the same enthusiasm into making everyone he knew laugh and smile. "The first time I ever met him, he came over to our house, and I remember he pushed me off my tricycle, and we were friends ever since," said a neighbor, 19-year-old Chad Whitaker, who graduated from high school with Larsen last year. "He used to play jokes on everyone. He always made people laugh." Larsen was killed in a vehicle accident in Baghdad, Iraq, two weeks after he returned to the country for a second six-month tour of duty. He was assigned to 272nd Military Police Company, 21st Theater Support Command, and based in Mannheim, Germany. During his two-week visit home to Canyon Country, just north of the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita, Larsen took his 17-year-old sister Haley to her homecoming dance. Larsen was good with his hands and could fix things, including a car engine, neighbors and family friends said. They said Larsen always dreamed of joining the military, riding his bicycle to the local recruiting office when he was just 10 years old. He enlisted in the Army soon after graduating from high school. "He wasn't afraid when he left here," neighbor Debby Artega said. "He looked right at me and told me he wanted to go back and be with his buddies."
Army Pfc. Cole W. Larsen loved the outdoors and spent weekends in the hills riding his motorized dirt bike and hunting with his father. The 19-year-old military policeman put the same enthusiasm into making everyone he knew laugh and smile. "The first time I ever met him, he came over to our house, and I remember he pushed me off my tricycle, and we were friends ever since," said a neighbor, 19-year-old Chad Whitaker, who graduated from high school with Larsen last year. "He used to play jokes on everyone. He always made people laugh." Larsen was killed in a vehicle accident in Baghdad, Iraq, two weeks after he returned to the country for a second six-month tour of duty. He was assigned to 272nd Military Police Company, 21st Theater Support Command, and based in Mannheim, Germany. During his two-week visit home to Canyon Country, just north of the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita, Larsen took his 17-year-old sister Haley to her homecoming dance. Larsen was good with his hands and could fix things, including a car engine, neighbors and family friends said. They said Larsen always dreamed of joining the military, riding his bicycle to the local recruiting office when he was just 10 years old. He enlisted in the Army soon after graduating from high school. "He wasn't afraid when he left here," neighbor Debby Artega said. "He looked right at me and told me he wanted to go back and be with his buddies."
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