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thedrifter
04-12-09, 08:43 AM
Anthony Cabrera reports
Remembering first Tucsonan killed in Iraq War

A Tucson family gathered Saturday to honor a Marine, killed five years ago. Twenty-year-old Lance Corporal Robert Zurheide, Jr. was the first person from Tucson to die during combat in Iraq. He was on his second deployment at the time. His death came less than a month before his wife was due to deliver their first child.

"It's five years and everyday passes, but it doesn't feel as long, but there's not a day that passes that I don't remember him," said Courtney Zurheide, his younger brother, who was in high school when Robert died at war. That one event has shaped him into the man he is today.

"Seeing my brother give his life for his, just makes you think of, what am I doing?" he said.

That's part of the reason why Courtney plans to follow in his brother's footsteps, joining the Marines this year. A third brother couldn't make the memorial service because he's also serving.

"We don't discourage them from serving their country because of what happened. In fact, it made us stronger in that, and made them stronger. Made them more determined," said their father, Robert Zurheide, Sr.

Still, life without a loved one has been tough and if it weren't for the son Robert left behind, it may be a different story.

"I make due, by seeing his son, seeing the same, everything," said Courtney.

"He's been a joy, he's been the light of our lives. Without him, it would've been so much harder. To have him has been, real healing for us," said Robert Sr.

As of Saturday, the US Military says more than 4,270 American service members have died in Iraq since the war started six years ago.

Ellie