On Saturday morning, Stephen Morris called his parents a
t their home in Lake Jackson, Texas — a young Marine's lon
g -distance holiday greeting from the war in Iraq.

His father will never forget that conversation.


"He said he was cold and fearful of the new job that he had
," said Lloyd Morris Jr. "He said, 'Dad, pray for me drivi
n g this Hummer.' He said it's a target."

The next d
ay , Christmas Eve, found Lloyd Morris standing at the fron
t d oor — he'd just sent his wife off to choir practice — w
hen a pair of Marines arrived to tell him that his son was
dead .

"I saw them drive up and I said, 'Oh, my God,
' " t he father said by telephone from his home yesterday.
"I was hoping they were going somewhere else. But they were
n't."< BR>
Morris, a lance corporal assigned to Ma
rine Corps Ba se, Hawai'i, was the 19th Marine killed in co
mbat since the Kane'ohe-based 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Reg
iment deployed to Iraq in September.

He was 21.
< >BRThe Marines at his home told Morris his son was driving
the vehicle wh en it was blown up by an improvised explosiv
e device in Anb ar province.

"They said he was kille
d instantly," Mo rris said.

The young Marine's greatest passion in life was his rel
igion. He attended a Baptist church in Texas and the Word
o f Life Christian Center in Honolulu.

"He loved the Lord," said the elder Morris, a 58-year-o
ld retired prison chaplain. "He was very committed to the
L ord and His will and he led a number of Marines to the Lo
rd in Iraq."

'QUITE A SHOCK'

Morris joined the Marines after graduating from Brazosw
ood High School in 2004. He arrived in Hawai'i that Novemb
e r for his first assignment.

His parents never understood why he signed up.

"He just came home one day from school and said he join
ed the Marines," the elder Morris said. "It was quite a sh
o ck to his mother and I."

The Marine was a veteran of one deployment by the time
he left for Iraq. His unit spent eight months in Afghanista
n, returning in January of this year. The Iraq deployment
i s scheduled to end in the spring.

Morris was a mortarman, a job that required him to fire
mortars to support reconnaissance missions. His father had
talked him out of becoming a sniper, telling him they woun
d up as targets themselves way too often.

"But he was an excellent marksman," his father said. "H
e enjoyed shooting guns. I don't think he enjoyed any of t
h e aspect of shooting at people."

The Marine was awarded the Purple Heart, the National D
efense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the
I raq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service M
ed al and two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons.

While at church in Honolulu this past Mother's Day, Mor
ris met Lacey De Guzman. The pair began to date and to ind
u lge in the Marine's other great passion: surfing.

"He had a really great smile," De
Guzman said yesterday. "The first time I saw him, he smile
d at me."

'WONDERFUL DREAMS'

An English major at Hawai'i Pacific University, De Guzm
an grew up surfing on the North Shore, so it was easy for
h er to join Morris when he suggested they surf off Waikiki
a t night.

To this day, a full moon reminds her of Morris.

The Marine made an impact on De Guzman that she can't f
ully explain.

In a recent letter, Morris told her how dangerous it wa
s in Iraq, how nearly every day someone was getting shot a
t or blown up, she said.

But he told her that he loved her and promised to come
home to see her graduate next summer — "all those wonderful
dreams," De Guzman said.

"The only word that comes to mind when I think about St
ephen is love," she said. "That is what he is. That is wha
t he was made for. That was all he could express. That was
S tephen."

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