US Marines Honor 2 Comrades Killed in Afghanistan, First Deaths Since New Deployment

Yahoo! News - Associated Press ^ | April 23, 2008 | JASON STRAZIUSO

[Perseverando]

CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan - More than 100 U.S. Marines stood at attention before four empty boots and two sets of dog tags Tuesday to honor the first Marines to die in Afghanistan since their unit's deployment last month.

1st Sgt. Luke J. Mercardante, 35, and Cpl. Kyle W. Wilks, 24, died in a roadside bomb explosion in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province on April 15, said Lt. Col. Ricky Brown, the commander of Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Lejuene, North Carolina.

Dark, overcast skies, a blustery wind and light droplets of rain reflected the ceremony's mood. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Tom Nagy, a medical officer attached to the Marine unit, read from a letter Mercardante wrote to his sister.

"I want no person to ever feel sad or pity for me or my Marines as we endure hardship and sacrifice, as this is our calling with the unknown outcome being that of God's master plan," Nagy quoted Mercardante as writing.

The attack came during the Marines' first movement outside NATO's main southern base at Kandahar and hit Mercardante, the battalion's top noncommissioned officer, Brown said.

[Perseverando]

Former VMI ROTC Instructor Killed in Afghanistan

2002-2005 VMI assistant Marine Officer Instructor, selected as 2007 VMI Honorary Brother Rat

“Keeping with the spirit of the Brother Rat,” he (First Sergeant Mercardante) said, “I will represent you and your class at all times in the most professional and respectable manner, be an ambassador for VMI, be an individual that any of you can call upon at any time, and wear your class ring with great pride.... This is one of the greatest honors of my life after being able to call myself a Christian, a father, and a United States Marine.”