thedrifter
04-20-06, 07:57 AM
Newlywed Marine killed in Iraq
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AVONDALE, La. - An Avondale man who was recently married was killed in combat in Iraq, the Department of Defense said.
Lance Cpl. Derrick Cothran, 21, was among four Marines killed Saturday in Al Anbar province when their Humvee struck a roadside bomb, officials said Monday.
A 2003 graduate of John Curtis Christian School in River Ridge, Cothran played defensive back on the football team, was an outfielder on its baseball team and a member of the wrestling team.
"It's tragic that a young man of his caliber would lose his life," Curtis said. "He was a fine Christian young man," whose brother TJ and sister Antoinette also attended the school.
Cothran described his grandson as "a good kid."
"He was smart," Cothran said. "He played good football. He played good baseball."
Curtis said he dropped out of college after two years to join the Marines. "He was a perfect-type Marine. When he told me (he enlisted), it didn't surprise me."
Cothran was assigned to the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, based in Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Cothran was the second Curtis graduate to be killed in Iraq, Curtis said. Huey Fassbender III, 24, of LaPlace, was killed on Jan. 6, 2005, by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad. He was a sergeant in the Louisiana Army National Guard's 256th Infantry Brigade.
Cothran's death brings to 54 the number of Louisiana service members who have died in Iraq since combat began in March 2003, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, a private group that tracks war deaths.
Rest In Peace
Ellie
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AVONDALE, La. - An Avondale man who was recently married was killed in combat in Iraq, the Department of Defense said.
Lance Cpl. Derrick Cothran, 21, was among four Marines killed Saturday in Al Anbar province when their Humvee struck a roadside bomb, officials said Monday.
A 2003 graduate of John Curtis Christian School in River Ridge, Cothran played defensive back on the football team, was an outfielder on its baseball team and a member of the wrestling team.
"It's tragic that a young man of his caliber would lose his life," Curtis said. "He was a fine Christian young man," whose brother TJ and sister Antoinette also attended the school.
Cothran described his grandson as "a good kid."
"He was smart," Cothran said. "He played good football. He played good baseball."
Curtis said he dropped out of college after two years to join the Marines. "He was a perfect-type Marine. When he told me (he enlisted), it didn't surprise me."
Cothran was assigned to the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, based in Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Cothran was the second Curtis graduate to be killed in Iraq, Curtis said. Huey Fassbender III, 24, of LaPlace, was killed on Jan. 6, 2005, by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad. He was a sergeant in the Louisiana Army National Guard's 256th Infantry Brigade.
Cothran's death brings to 54 the number of Louisiana service members who have died in Iraq since combat began in March 2003, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, a private group that tracks war deaths.
Rest In Peace
Ellie