The Tennessean -- James D. Hirlston, known to his family as J.D., had wanted to be a Marine his whole life — if for no other reason than to prove he could.

"He liked the uniforms, the style, the way they walked, their honesty," J.D.'s father, James Hirlston, said Thursday.

J.D. Hirlston, 21, a native of Rutherford County, was killed Wednesday in combat in Iraq.

He was a lance corporal in the Marines, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He joined the Marines in June 2005 and went to Iraq early this summer.

First Lt. Barry Edwards, spokesman for the 2nd Marine Division, said Lance Cpl. Hirlston's unit had been conducting patrols and training Iraqi security forces in Al Anbar province, where a number of Marines are stationed. The details of the combat operation in which he died were not released by the Marines on Thursday.

As a rifleman, he was among the Marine class that serves as the primary scouts and assault troops. "They are the ground forces you usually see patrolling the streets," Edwards said.

The last time he talked with his father, James Hirlston, was at a family dinner in Murfreesboro right before J.D. went to Iraq.

"He told me if he didn't come back, what he'd want to happen," James Hirlston recalled Thursday.

"We told him we weren't too worried about that, just that we wanted him to come back. Now I wish we had talked longer."

Lance Cpl. Hirlston grew up in Rutherford County and attended Riverdale High School, his father said. He had worked at a grocery store and a fast-food restaurant in Murfreesboro before joining the Marines.

He loved athletics, wrestling and playing baseball as a teenager.

Lance Cpl. Hirlston's competitive drive came through on the athletic field, his father said. As a wrestler, he didn't mind losing a match by a decision.

"He just didn't want to get pinned," James said.

He also recalled a softball game J.D. had played in as a boy. "A guy hit a line drive that hit him right in the ankle. We had two innings left, and he wouldn't come out," James Hirlston said.

"He was one of a kind. Nobody else had a personality quite like him," his father said. "Anything he got into, he was dedicated. He wanted to see it through."

That drive to win at sports, James said, also drew J.D. to the Marines.

"It takes a whole lot to be a Marine. He wanted to prove he could be one," his father said. "I kept telling him he didn't have to prove he was the best. He was the best of the best."

"He was a good boy, a Christian boy," J.D.'s grandmother, Mary Hirlston, said Thursday. "His lifelong goal was to be a Marine.

"He thought it was the roughest thing, to defend your country. That's what he wanted to do," she said.

Mary Hirlston described her grandson as an outgoing, loving person with a lot of friends.

She said J.D. had called her the day before he was killed. She wasn't home at the time, she said; J.D. left a message on her answering machine.

"He said he'd been patrolling," Mary Hirlston said. "He said, 'This is my sleep time, but I wanted to talk to my granny.' "I didn't get to talk to him," she said.

Lance Cpl. Hirlston was part of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

His survivors include eight brothers and sisters, his father said. Most of his family lives in Rutherford County.