David Huhn & Craig Watson

Saturday, December 03 2005 @ 03:45 PM MST

www.mlive.com

DETROIT (AP) — Two U.S. Marines from Michigan were among 10 Marines killed and 11 wounded in a roadside bomb near Fallujah, the U.S. military said Saturday.


david Huhn

Lance Cpl. Craig N. Watson, 21, of Union City, and Lance Cpl. David A. Huhn, 24, of Portland, died Thursday. They were assigned to a regiment within the 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force out of Twentynine Palms, Calif.


Craig Watson

Watson was a former athlete at Union City High School. The 2003 graduate played on the football and wrestling teams at Union City. He had twin brothers, Brad and Kevin, who also attended the school. [Editors Note -- We were informed by family that Craig had four brothers: James Deaton the oldest, Derek who was born and deceased before Craig and then Craig and the Twins.]

Union City assistant wrestling Coach Ed Sybesma Watson said Watson believed in the U.S. mission in Iraq.

"He was anxious to go back. I know he was really proud to be a Marine," he said.

Eric Tundevole, the head football coach, said Watson was a typical American youth.

"He wasn't perfect. He had faults, but he was a good boy," Tundevole said. "He was sharp, but not the smartest. He was a good player, but not the greatest. But he obviously made the supreme sacrifice."

Huhn graduated from Portland High School in 2000. He joined the Marines in 2004 and was sent to Iraq earlier this summer. He had a month left until he was scheduled to come home.

"We will miss our Dave," Huhn's uncle, Jeff Helmel told the Lansing State Journal on Friday. "But we will stand proud with all the other families who lost loved ones to this war against terror."

The soldier was last home in February to attend the funeral following the sudden death of his father, Larry Huhn, who suffered a massive heart attack.

He lost his sister 15 years ago in a farming accident, neighbors said.

His older brother, Kevin, is a former Marine.

Friend and neighbor Larry Schueller recalled David as "a quiet young man" with a good sense of humor.

"He lived his entire life in the neighborhood and he was just very quiet and respectful of adults," Schueller told The Grand Rapids Press.

The attack in Fallujah came a day after President Bush outlined his strategy for victory in Iraq, and at a time when there are growing calls for an exit plan for U.S. troops.

The roadside bomb in Fallujah, the former insurgent headquarters west of the capital, was fashioned from several large artillery shells, the military said.

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