Army Cpl. Ryan James Clark, 19, Lancaster; Dies of Burn Injuries in Roadside Bombing

Ryan James Clark loved to blow things up.

“What teenaged young adult wouldn’t?” said his older brother, Army Sgt. Sean Clark.

But for 19-year-old Ryan, a Lancaster resident remembered as a “big kid” with a heart-melting smile, setting off explosions was more than a youthful thrill: It had been key to his job as an Army corporal, which was to help save the lives of his fellow soldiers in Iraq.

That job cost him his own life.

The 2004 graduate of Antelope Valley High School was a machine gunner for a team that rooted out improvised explosive devices, the bombs that insurgents plant beside or beneath roads.

On June 17, Clark and his comrades were summoned to what was suspected to be such a device in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Another bomb they couldn’t see exploded near their Humvee, killing two soldiers.

With third-degree burns over most of his body, Clark was airlifted for treatment first to Germany and then to Texas, where he died June 29 at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

He was unconscious during most of his hospital stay but had six hours of wakefulness with his family.

“I think he fought to get those six hours with us,” said his father, Keith. “He had a very strong will.”

Keith Clark and his wife, Melinda, who are both Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives, had hurried to San Antonio to be at Ryan’s bedside. So had his mother, Pennie O’Brien, and her husband, Steve.

Sean Clark also made the trip from his post in Hawaii.

“I spent 13 months in Iraq, and he was there for three weeks,” he said, a mournful catch in his voice. “You don’t know why these things happen.”

Ryan Clark was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

Unlike his older brother, he had no plans to make the military a career. He was looking forward to joining his stepfather in the air-conditioning business.

He had enlisted not to emulate his brother, but to serve his country, his father said.

“We had a long conversation about this, and his decision was to do his part for his country,” Keith Clark said. “Ryan wasn’t really happy with Army life. But he told us, ‘I chose this, I’m going to stick with it and do the best that I can.’ And he did. He was a great soldier.”

He also was great at winning friends. His father and brother said he could walk into a crowded room and become pals with all.

“Everybody I ever talked to loved Ryan,” his father said.

That included the opposite sex. Ryan’s easy charm and athletic good looks -- he played baseball and football in high school -- made for no lonely Saturday nights. He didn’t have a steady girlfriend, but there were plenty of prospects.

“He was a ladies’ man,” Sean Clark said, noting that about 30 grieving young women attended the memorial service.

After Ryan’s parents divorced, the new families they started simply widened his circle of joy.

“The big Christmases, the Fourth of July ... he loved family,” his father said.

The family marked this Independence Day quietly, forgoing the traditional block party. Instead, they reminisced about Ryan.

On a recent leave, he had played army with his 10-year-old brother, Justin, the son of Keith and Melinda. Ryan cherished the role of big brother, and his last bit of advice to Justin was to work hard in school and on the baseball diamond, the parents said.

He was similarly close to his stepfather’s 17-year-old daughter, Hollie. She and Justin have struggled with their loss.

Ryan had a prankster’s sense of humor. Sean recalled that Ryan once pulled an April Fool’s joke on their mother by bringing home a fake note from a middle school teacher, accusing the younger brother of sexual harassment.

“She went berserk,” he said. “She had to call the teacher to double-check.”

Later, when the brothers were 16 and 14, they blew up some bottles with firecrackers, startling neighbors. “We got a lot of phone calls,” Sean said.

Ryan Clark was assigned to the 40th Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team in Baumholder, Germany. He spent most of his time in Germany and Kuwait, endlessly drilling to sharpen his skills.

He couldn’t wait to test himself on the battlefield.

“It was just like in baseball,” his father said. “He loved to play the game but hated to practice.”

Ryan played second base for Antelope Valley High, the same position as his idol, Adam Kennedy of the Angels, the Major League team Ryan worshiped. He wore Kennedy’s uniform number, 2.

Sean Clark said that his brother was a fierce competitor and that his temper could flare when he did not perform to his standards.

“He was hard on himself,” Sean said.

Keith Clark said his son reveled in his duty, as dangerous as it was: “Every time he talked to us, he told us he loved to blow things up. He’d bring these pictures home of him blowing things up.

“He’s missed every day,” his father said. “He’s going to be missed for the rest of our lives.”

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War casualties

Total U.S. deaths* as of Friday:

In and around Iraq: 2,593

* In and around Afghanistan: 264

* Other locations: 56

Source: Department of Defense* Includes military and Department of Defense-employed civilian personnel killed in action and in nonhostile circumstances