Keith Broomfield


Keith Broomfield was an American volunteer fighter who was killed while serving with the People's Protection Units in Syria. Broomfield was the first U.S. citizen to die fighting for the YPG during the Syrian Civil War.

Biography

Keith Broomfield was born in 1979 in Westminster, Massachusetts to Tom and Donna Broomfield. He worked as the production manager for the family's manufacturing firm Broomfield Laboratories in Bolton, Massachusetts. After a motorcycle accident and rediscovering his faith, Broomfield told his father he was called to fight in Syria. He joined the YPG on February 24, 2015 under the nom de guerre Gelhat Raman.

Kobane

On arriving to Kobane in February, 2015, he was transferred to the military academy of Kantona Kobane. He received his month-long basic training and had a translator on hand to help him. By March, Broomfield, now Gelhat, wanted to go to the frontline near Sexler, on the Euphrates River to the west of the city of Kobane. After several more weeks, with a new operation "Rubar Qamishlo" beginning, the axis of attack for the canton switched from west to south-east and east. By April, Broomfield reached the front line after joining the Kobane Sniper unit. There were a number of foreigners already there, as well as English-speaking Kurds.
Broomfield chose to stay continuously in the front line from April until his death in June 2015. Despite lacking traditional military training, he adapted himself very well. Many of his comrades spoke highly of him as a great shot and a hard-worker. His Kurdish also slowly improved as well.
However, the Kobane Sniper Unit was taking increasing casualties. Their commander, Heval Herdem was killed in early April. This was followed by the deaths of three more of the snipers, two more were wounded in explosions, another was shot through the chest, and several returned home or to Cizre Canton due to combat fatigue.
On or around June 3, 2015, Broomfield was killed by enemy sniper fire.