Teufelhunden
01-26-2008, 08:34 PM
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- As a boy Keith Lloyd marveled at the physical prowess of professional wrestlers, could lose himself in a Nintendo game and reveled in the hours he spent playing outside his home on Milwaukee's south side.
As a teen he was not crazy about high school, but he never shirked the responsibility that came with it; after graduation he wasn't quite sure what career path to take.
Finally, as a young man, he decided to follow the path of his younger brother, who had just completed a tour of duty in Iraq with the U.S. Army.
"He was well aware of the risk," his sister Christine Piper said Tuesday, recalling her brother Keith's decision to join the military.
"He was looking for direction," she said. "He wanted to make something of himself and thought the Army was a good place to do that."
Pfc. Keith Lloyd of Milwaukee, a member of the 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas, died Saturday in Tal Afar, Iraq, of wounds suffered when the vehicle he was in struck a roadside bomb. He was 26.
"There's a mix of emotions," Piper said of her reaction to news of her brother's death. "There's anger, sadness - like, 'Why him?' "
He was born Keith Everette Lloyd on May 6, 1981, in Milwaukee and attended Lincoln Avenue Elementary School before his family moved to Oak Creek and then South Milwaukee.
While at Lincoln Avenue school, he played volleyball and enjoyed Nintendo video games featuring the likes of the Super Mario Brothers and stars of the World Wrestling Federation.
"He had Pillow Pals shaped like the wrestlers," Piper remembered, describing her younger brother's stuffed Hulk Hogan and Randy "Macho Man" Savage pillows.
"I remember he would beat us up with them," she said.
As he grew older, her brother enjoyed movies and Green Bay Packers games and, for a time, played volleyball for South Milwaukee High School.
"High school wasn't his favorite thing, but he did it because he knew he had to," Piper said.
Lloyd graduated from South Milwaukee in 2000 and worked at a number of retail sites, including Farm & Fleet and Pick 'n Save stores, she said.
He also took courses at Milwaukee Area Technical College in Oak Creek and ITT Technical Institute in Milwaukee, his sister said.
"He was still trying to figure out what he wanted to do," Piper said.
Their younger brother Thomas Lloyd joined the Army and spent a year in Iraq before Keith enlisted last February, she said.
"We were concerned, but regardless of how worried we were, we knew it was what he wanted to do," she said. "It was his choice, and we supported him."
After being deployed to Iraq in November, Keith Lloyd kept in touch with his family through letters, telephone and e-mail but didn't discuss much about the war, his sister said.
He did, however, describe how he met some of the stars of the former WWF, now World Wrestling Entertainment, during their recent tour of Iraq.
"That was a pretty big thing for him," said Piper, who last spoke with her brother on Christmas Eve.
He asked her about her newborn daughter. She told him how much their family missed him and to let her know if he needed anything.
She would later send him a package: crossword puzzles, army green socks, baby wipes, sunflower seeds and Jolly Rancher candies.
She would also learn of a letter he recently sent to his girlfriend Amanda Apollo's parents asking for permission to marry their daughter - and their e-mail response granting their blessings.
"I'm very proud of him, and I hope he knows that," Piper said. "I told him that in the last letter I sent.
"I said, 'We are part of you.' "
Lloyd is the 86th Wisconsin military service member to die in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003 and the fourth from the state killed this month.
Along with his sister Christine (Brad) and brother Thomas (Ashley), Lloyd is also survived by his mother, Cynthia Allam, his father and stepmother, Gary and Joanne Lloyd, sister Cora (fianc Nasi Vinca) Lloyd and brothers Kraig, Gary and Joshua Lloyd. Funeral arrangements are pending.
As a teen he was not crazy about high school, but he never shirked the responsibility that came with it; after graduation he wasn't quite sure what career path to take.
Finally, as a young man, he decided to follow the path of his younger brother, who had just completed a tour of duty in Iraq with the U.S. Army.
"He was well aware of the risk," his sister Christine Piper said Tuesday, recalling her brother Keith's decision to join the military.
"He was looking for direction," she said. "He wanted to make something of himself and thought the Army was a good place to do that."
Pfc. Keith Lloyd of Milwaukee, a member of the 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas, died Saturday in Tal Afar, Iraq, of wounds suffered when the vehicle he was in struck a roadside bomb. He was 26.
"There's a mix of emotions," Piper said of her reaction to news of her brother's death. "There's anger, sadness - like, 'Why him?' "
He was born Keith Everette Lloyd on May 6, 1981, in Milwaukee and attended Lincoln Avenue Elementary School before his family moved to Oak Creek and then South Milwaukee.
While at Lincoln Avenue school, he played volleyball and enjoyed Nintendo video games featuring the likes of the Super Mario Brothers and stars of the World Wrestling Federation.
"He had Pillow Pals shaped like the wrestlers," Piper remembered, describing her younger brother's stuffed Hulk Hogan and Randy "Macho Man" Savage pillows.
"I remember he would beat us up with them," she said.
As he grew older, her brother enjoyed movies and Green Bay Packers games and, for a time, played volleyball for South Milwaukee High School.
"High school wasn't his favorite thing, but he did it because he knew he had to," Piper said.
Lloyd graduated from South Milwaukee in 2000 and worked at a number of retail sites, including Farm & Fleet and Pick 'n Save stores, she said.
He also took courses at Milwaukee Area Technical College in Oak Creek and ITT Technical Institute in Milwaukee, his sister said.
"He was still trying to figure out what he wanted to do," Piper said.
Their younger brother Thomas Lloyd joined the Army and spent a year in Iraq before Keith enlisted last February, she said.
"We were concerned, but regardless of how worried we were, we knew it was what he wanted to do," she said. "It was his choice, and we supported him."
After being deployed to Iraq in November, Keith Lloyd kept in touch with his family through letters, telephone and e-mail but didn't discuss much about the war, his sister said.
He did, however, describe how he met some of the stars of the former WWF, now World Wrestling Entertainment, during their recent tour of Iraq.
"That was a pretty big thing for him," said Piper, who last spoke with her brother on Christmas Eve.
He asked her about her newborn daughter. She told him how much their family missed him and to let her know if he needed anything.
She would later send him a package: crossword puzzles, army green socks, baby wipes, sunflower seeds and Jolly Rancher candies.
She would also learn of a letter he recently sent to his girlfriend Amanda Apollo's parents asking for permission to marry their daughter - and their e-mail response granting their blessings.
"I'm very proud of him, and I hope he knows that," Piper said. "I told him that in the last letter I sent.
"I said, 'We are part of you.' "
Lloyd is the 86th Wisconsin military service member to die in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003 and the fourth from the state killed this month.
Along with his sister Christine (Brad) and brother Thomas (Ashley), Lloyd is also survived by his mother, Cynthia Allam, his father and stepmother, Gary and Joanne Lloyd, sister Cora (fianc Nasi Vinca) Lloyd and brothers Kraig, Gary and Joshua Lloyd. Funeral arrangements are pending.