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thedrifter
02-08-07, 06:43 AM
Posted on Thu, Feb. 08, 2007
Marine from Allentown area killed in Iraq

ALLENTOWN - A Marine from Lehigh County has died in combat in Iraq, the Defense Department said yesterday. Lance Cpl. Brandon J. Van Parys, 20, of New Tripoli, was only 20 days into his first tour of Iraq when he died Monday in Anbar province.

Alan Van Parys said his son was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade as his unit attempted to secure an area along the Euphrates River that insurgents used as a supply route. "He's a hero," Van Parys told a local television station. "He gave his life protecting his battalion commander. How can you not be proud of that?"

Van Parys said his son had been motivated to join the Marines by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Before the Marine's deployment overseas, he told his family: "I've done this training. It's time to put it to use."

The family said they heard from Van Parys via e-mail 15 hours before his death. Van Parys was assigned to the Third Battalion, Sixth Marine Regiment, Second Marine Division, Second Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He was a 2005 graduate of Northwestern Lehigh High School. - AP

Ellie