Fallen soldier remembered as a hero (Marc A. Lee)

HOOD RIVER - In one of the last letters he sent before his death, a Navy SEAL wrote that his duty in Iraq made him appreciate America even more.

"I have felt fear at some of the things I have seen here," wrote U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Marc A. Lee. "I have seen amazing things and sad things."

But being in Iraq, he added, "makes me realize what a great country we have."

Lee's brother, Kris, read the letter at a memorial service this weekend at the Hood River Expo Center. More than 600 people heard Lee eulogized as son, husband, brother, uncle, warrior, American and Christian.

Lee, 28, was killed Aug. 2 in a firefight while on patrol against insurgents in Ramadi, Iraq. A member of a SEAL team based in Coronado, Calif., Lee was one of the first members of the elite group to be killed in Iraq.

U.S. Navy officers told Debbie Lee that her son died after single-handedly holding off enemy fighters as his team rescued a wounded soldier from a rooftop.

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