thedrifter
12-17-06, 09:22 AM
Casualties of war
December 17, 2006
A Marine from Minnesota who died in Iraq last week was killed in a firefight, his brother, Chris, said on Friday night.
Cpl. Dustin J. Libby, 22, of Castle Hill, Minn., died Wednesday in Anbar province. Libby was manning a machine gun on the roof of a building when he was shot.
A member of Cpl. Libby's squad told Chris Libby that his brother went down still holding the trigger.
Cpl. Libby was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, and was based at Camp Pendleton in California.
He arrived in the Ramadi area for his second tour in Iraq a little more than two weeks ago. His brother said the mission was seeking out insurgents.
"He was right in the heavy stuff from Day One," Chris Libby said.
There had been talk of invading Iraq for months before Dustin Libby signed up for the Marines. The day he signed the papers, his brother picked him up and they went home to turn on the TV and see President Bush announcing the invasion.
"I looked at him," Chris Libby said. "And he said, 'Well, I knew we were going there.' "
Chris Libby said his brother made it through some tough scrapes on his first tour and was "scared half out of his mind," but he had no regrets.
He recalled how his younger brother looked the day he shipped off for boot camp -- a kid with scruffy, long hair, still a bit tipsy from the previous night's festivities. When the brothers saw each other again at boot camp graduation, Chris Libby did a double take.
"I'm looking at this man in front of me. I'm two inches taller than him, and he's looking at me, eye-to-eye, in full uniform. It amazed me," Chris Libby said.
The family is still making arrangements for the funeral. Chris Libby said plans will be announced.
AP
Ellie
December 17, 2006
A Marine from Minnesota who died in Iraq last week was killed in a firefight, his brother, Chris, said on Friday night.
Cpl. Dustin J. Libby, 22, of Castle Hill, Minn., died Wednesday in Anbar province. Libby was manning a machine gun on the roof of a building when he was shot.
A member of Cpl. Libby's squad told Chris Libby that his brother went down still holding the trigger.
Cpl. Libby was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, and was based at Camp Pendleton in California.
He arrived in the Ramadi area for his second tour in Iraq a little more than two weeks ago. His brother said the mission was seeking out insurgents.
"He was right in the heavy stuff from Day One," Chris Libby said.
There had been talk of invading Iraq for months before Dustin Libby signed up for the Marines. The day he signed the papers, his brother picked him up and they went home to turn on the TV and see President Bush announcing the invasion.
"I looked at him," Chris Libby said. "And he said, 'Well, I knew we were going there.' "
Chris Libby said his brother made it through some tough scrapes on his first tour and was "scared half out of his mind," but he had no regrets.
He recalled how his younger brother looked the day he shipped off for boot camp -- a kid with scruffy, long hair, still a bit tipsy from the previous night's festivities. When the brothers saw each other again at boot camp graduation, Chris Libby did a double take.
"I'm looking at this man in front of me. I'm two inches taller than him, and he's looking at me, eye-to-eye, in full uniform. It amazed me," Chris Libby said.
The family is still making arrangements for the funeral. Chris Libby said plans will be announced.
AP
Ellie