West Central Tribune -- A 25-year-old Marine from Maple Lake was killed in Al Anbar province, Iraq, when a bomb exploded during combat operations, the Department of Defense and his family said Thursday.

Sgt. Chad M. Allen was on his second deployment in Iraq and was scheduled to leave the Marines on May 1, his father said.

Allen, who died Wednesday, joined the Marine Corps in 2003 and was trained as a light armored vehicle crewman before joining the LAR Battalion. His father, Steve Allen, of Danbury, Wis., described his son as a "very well loved young man."

Allen joined the Marines the day after the Sept. 11 attacks, his mother, Deborah Allen, also of Danbury, said Thursday. "He was going to save his family from harm."

Allen was assigned to the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

His parents said he volunteered for a second tour of duty in Iraq to take the place of an injured fellow Marine. Steve Allen said his son had told him Sunday that he had been promoted to sergeant.

Chad Allen, the second oldest of four children, grew up in Maple Lake and graduated from high school there. He worked for a car wash and a landscape company before joining the Marines.

He loved to fish and ride his motorcycle and was homecoming king in high school, his mother said. "He was awesome, he was the coolest kid," she said. "He was very happy, very outgoing, never could sit still for a minute."

With Allen's death, the number of people with strong Minnesota ties who have died in connection with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan reached 53. On Monday, the 52nd, former Coon Rapids resident Army Sgt. William (B.J.) Beardsley, 25, was killed by a roadside bomb in Diwaniyah, about 100 miles south of Baghdad.