Daniel B. Chaires killed in combat

A Tallahassee native has become one of the latest casualties in Iraq.

U.S. Marine Pfc. Daniel Chaires, 20, died Wednesday from wounds he received in combat operations against enemy forces in Al Anbar province, Iraq.

Killed in the same incident was Pfc. Donald Brown, 19, of Succasunna, N.J.

Both Marines were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, operating out of Kanehoe Bay, Hawaii.

Chaires enlisted in the Marines in September 2005 and was deployed to Iraq last month. He was in line for promotion to lance corporal.

Chaires was the son of retired Leon County Sheriff's Capt. Harry Chaires and his wife, Nan Cuchens, who teaches in the Florida State College of Nursing. Harry Chaires, who retired in 2005, is a descendant of one of Leon County's pioneer families. He spent more than 30 years with the Sheriff's Office and for many years directed special operations, including security at Florida State football games. Cuchens, a registered nurse, was director of the emergency room at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital before joining FSU and is a volunteer at the Red Hills Horse Trials.

Family members were unavailable for comment Thursday.

Sheriff Larry Campbell said he and Harry Chaires had lunch with Daniel shortly before he left for Iraq six weeks ago.

"Daniel said when he finished his term in the Marines, he wanted to come back and join the Sheriff's Department, and I told him there would be a position waiting," Campbell said. "You're always going to say something nice about someone when they die. But Daniel Chaires was just a super kid, a 'yes sir, no sir' super kid."

Chaires is the fourth member of the military from Tallahassee to be killed in combat in Afghanistan or Iraq. Two military personnel from Wakulla County also have been killed, plus a Colorado native who was buried in Gadsden County, where his family lived.

From the Tallahassee Democrat