Mourning a loss

By Staff
April 13, 2004
We join with his family and friends in mourning the death of Christopher Mabry, a 19-year-old U.S. Marine from southwest Lauderdale County who was killed in the Sunni Muslim town of Ramadi, Iraq, on April 6, 2004. Mabry was among Marines fighting guerrillas in the cities of Ramadi and Falluja, in Iraq's Sunni heartland where the insurgency against U.S. and allied forces has turned most violent. Mabry is the first Lauderdale Countian killed in Iraq.
Death in the line of duty is always a tragic loss. But beyond the numbing shock felt by Mabry's family will always be the knowledge that he volunteered to become a U.S. Marine because he knew it was a demanding form of service to his country that requires a special person.
To those who knew him best, he was surely such a man. We are grateful for his service and sacrifice.