A sense of pride in one of their own has welled up in Tredyffrin Township in the wake of a devastating helicopter crash that is presumed to have taken the life of 2003 Conestoga High School graduate Brian Kennedy.

Kennedy, a Marine Corps captain, was one of 12 marines presumed dead off the shores of Hawaii, according to a Daily Local News report by Adam Farence. Unlike the search of 40,000 nautical square miles and shoreline that turned up empty, however, Kennedy was remembered as a man in search of excellence, and his hands were full of it.

“He always wanted to do something meaningful,” his mother, Linda Kennedy, said in the article. “He zeroed in on joining the service as a way to do that.”

And after exhibiting prowess as a battalion weapons coach, a company platoon sergeant, company executive officer, company conduct officer and company squad leader during his time at the U.S. Naval Academy, Kennedy was commissioned straight into the Marine Corps.

In the years since, he accumulated the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.

“He put all of himself into what he did,” said his wife of one year, Capt. Paige Kennedy.

Read much more about how Brian Kennedy will be remembered in the Daily Local News here.