Ohio Marine killed in Iraq attack saw daughter only over Internet

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Michael Sangiacomo

Plain Dealer Reporter

Lance Cpl. Christopher Lyons never got to hold his 3-month-old daughter, but he glimpsed her over the Internet before his death in Iraq on Thursday.

Bethany Lyons said she saw tears in her husband's eyes when he looked at their daughter Ella after the couple connected in May over thousands of miles through Web cameras and the Internet.

"He said she was beautiful, just like me," Bethany Lyons said Saturday from her home in Ashland. "I'm so glad he at least got to see her once."

Christopher Lyons, 24, formerly of Mansfield, and Cpl. Andre Williams, 23, of the Columbus suburb of Galloway, were killed when their Columbus-based company was attacked in the village of Cykla in western Iraq. They were assigned to the Marine Forces Reserve's Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment, which has lost 11 soldiers since the beginning of the Iraq war.

Bethany Lyons said she never doubted her husband was coming home until Thursday night, when two Marines came to her apartment door.

"He was supposed to come home in late September or early October," she said. "I had a lot of faith that he was coming home. I was not worried."

Christopher Lyons shared his wife's optimism.

"A week and a half ago I received an e-mail with a bunch of photos from him," she said. "He said he had just returned from patrol and was getting ready to go out again but that he wanted to check in. He said how much he was looking forward to coming home."

The last time she saw her husband in person was last year when the two met in Las Vegas; she was seven months pregnant.

He joined the reserves three years ago, shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He was sent to Iraq in March.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

msangiacomo@plaind.com, 216-999-4890

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