A popular Navy chaplain died Saturday morning in a bicycle crash near Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, officials said Tuesday. (Navy Chaplains also serve with the Marines and Coast Guard.)

Lt. j.g. Bruce B. West Jr., 41, of Williamsburg, Va., was traveling downhill in Oze Mochigadao at around 8 a.m. when he went off the road at a turn, Iwakuni police said. West, who was cycling with a friend at the time, hit a tree and died instantly, police said.

“We’re all sad over here,” Lt. Robert Mills, deputy command chaplain at Iwakuni, said by phone Tuesday. “Bruce was a guy who lived life in full color. He was adventurous, always looking for new stuff to do and try.

“He was outgoing, and very popular. In a very short time of ministry here, he had already impacted the base for good in so many ways it’s hard to measure them.”
West was endorsed by the Evangelical Church Alliance, which has more than one hundred active duty Military Chaplains serving around the world, many of them in “hotspots” like Iraq and Afghanistan. He held a master’s degree in theological studies from the Orlando Campus of Reformed Theological Seminary, Mills said. He joined the Navy in August and arrived at Iwakuni in November.

Prior to seminary he had served on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ at the SUNY Buffalo campus. He had graduated from SUNY Buffalo in 1993.

Base spokesman Master Gunnery Sgt. John Cordero said that he personally had been affected by the personable junior chaplain, who always had a smile and who quickly became a good friend.

Read More: http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/japan/iwakuni-chaplain-killed-in-bicycle-crash-1.144413