This Military Service Page was created/owned by
MAJ Mark E Cooper
to remember
Boivin, Lawrence (Larry), SGM.
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Contact Info
Home Town North Stratford
Last Address Southern Pines, NC
Date of Passing Nov 15, 2012
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
U.S. Army Sergeant Major Lawrence Boivin was one of the four veterans killed Thursday, when a freight train hit a Show of Support Parade float the veterans were riding on. Midland Police say SGM Boivin died on the scene of the crash.
Below is his biography, as it appeared on the Show of Support website:
My name is Lawrence Boivin, and I retired from the Army after 24 years of active duty service to our great nation. I served the last 10 years of my military career within the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), where I was deployed to Iraq several times and once to Afghanistan. I was deployed to Iraq for Desert Storm/Desert Shield, Monrovia, Liberia, and Freetown Sierra Leone before my service during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).
I am happily married to my wonderful wife, Angela, who has been a role model for military wives to emulate. She is currently working as a nurse at Cape Fear Medical Center as staff nurse in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) and is attending college full time at UNC-Chapel Hill to earn her adult nurse practitioner degree. I am also blessed with two beautiful stepdaughters. We have a beautiful grandson named Nate who is the apple of our eye.
On April 26, 2004, during a tour of duty in Iraq, I was working with USSOCOM providing training and support to a small Marine contingency. After occupation of a strategic location, we were attacked from several locations by a large massing enemy force. During the first minutes of the attack, 50 percent of Marine forces were incapacitated. During the initial attack, RPG rounds were impacting all around us, and I was hit by shrapnel from an RPG round. During this attack, I withstood several penetrating wounds to the left side of my head, legs, and buttock. After regaining my composure, I fought back with the remaining Marines until I was wounded again by a fragmentation grenade that impacted my left arm and back. My teammate and I provided covering support to allow the Marines to evacuate the wounded. Once all of the wounded Marines were safe or moving back to a safe location, my teammate and I bounded back toward the Marine Forward Operating Base (FOB) while continuing to provide covering fire for our Marines until the rest made it back to safety. There is a book called "No True Lies," written by Bing West, that describes the events of that day.
I was awarded a Silver Star and Purple Heart for my action that day. When I retired from the Army, I received the Legion of Merit medal for the culmination of my 24 years of service. Previously, I received the Meritorious Service Medal for the rescue and safe evacuations of American citizens as well as other dignitaries from the embassy in 1996, The Bronze Star from Desert Storm/Desert Shield for reconnoiter of the main supply route (MSR) that the 82nd would use to invade Iraq, and safe destruction of weaponized munitions at various depots.
Upon my retirement, I began working for K2 Solutions Inc., a defense contractor located in Southern Pines, N.C. I initially began my work as a subject matter expert (SME) for training on various equipment, weapons, breaching techniques, and demolitions. Currently, I am the director of Support Operations in charge of maintaining and improving the company infrastructure. My job at K2 is extremely satisfying because of the close relationships we value with our soldiers, Marines, airmen, and seamen. This work allows us to continue service to our country, providing support to our men and women in uniform with the knowledge and experiences my colleagues and I have obtained through years of dedication and active duty service.
Gulf War/Defense of Saudi Arabia
From Month/Year
August / 1990
To Month/Year
January / 1991
Description In 1990, fellow Arab Gulf states refused to endorse Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's plan to cut production and raise the price of oil, leaving him frustrated and paranoid. Iraq had incurred a mountain of debt during its war with Iran that had lasted for most of the previous decade, and the Iraqi President felt that his Arab brothers were conspiring against him by refusing to raise oil prices. Therefore, after weeks of massing troops along the Iraq-Kuwait border and accusing Kuwait of various crimes, Hussein sent seven divisions of the Iraqi Army into Kuwait in the early morning hours of 2 August 1990. The invasion force of 120,000 troops and 2,000 tanks quickly overwhelmed Iraq's neighbor to the south, allowing Hussein to declare, in less than a week, that Kuwait was his nation's nineteenth province. The United Nations responded quickly, passing a series of resolutions that condemned the invasion, called for an immediate withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, imposed a financial and trade embargo on Iraq, and declared the annexation void.
Regarding Iraq's actions as a threat to a vital interest of the US, namely the oil production capability of the Persian Gulf region, President George Bush ordered warplanes and ground forces to Saudi Arabia after obtaining King Fahd's approval. Iraqi troops had begun to mass along the Saudi border, breaching it at some points, and indicating the possibility that Hussein's forces would continue south into Saudi Arabia's oil fields. Operation DESERT SHIELD, the US military deployment to first defend Saudi Arabia grew rapidly to become the largest American deployment since the Southeast Asia Conflict. The Gulf region was within US Central Command's (CENTCOM) area of responsibility. Eventually, 30 nations joined the military coalition arrayed against Iraq, with a further 18 countries supplying economic, humanitarian, or other type of assistance.
Carriers in the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea responded, US Air Force interceptors deployed from bases in the United States, and airlift transports carried US Army airborne troopers to Saudi Arabia. Navy prepositioning ships rushed equipment and supplies for an entire marine brigade from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to the gulf. During the next six months the United States and its allies built up a powerful force in the Arabian peninsula. The navy also began maritime intercept operations in support of a US-led blockade and United Nations sanctions against Iraq.
Coalition forces, specifically XVIII Airborne Corps and VII Corps, used deception cells to create the impression that they were going to attack near the Kuwaiti boot heel, as opposed to the "left hook" strategy actually implemented. XVIII Airborne Corps set up "Forward Operating Base Weasel" near the boot heel, consisting of a phony network of camps manned by several dozen soldiers. Using portable radio equipment, cued by computers, phony radio messages were passed between fictitious headquarters. In addition, smoke generators and loudspeakers playing tape-recorded tank and truck noises were used, as were inflatable Humvees and helicopters.
On 17 January 1991, when it became clear that Saddam would not withdraw, Desert Shield became Desert Storm.
