Luke Zimmerman killed in combat

People who knew Luke Zimmerman say he was a hard worker, an upstanding individual who always had a smile and had long aspired to be part of the U.S. Marine Corps.

On Friday, friends and family got the news the 24-year-old Marine from the town of Green Bay was killed in Iraq.

Zimmerman, a 2000 Luxemburg-Casco graduate, was a close friend of Steve Metzler and his family. He worked for Metzler and his wife, Julie, who own Julie's Café on Main Street in Green Bay, for four years. They'd also taken him on a family vacation and he was a best friend to Scott and Troy Metzler, two of Steve's sons.

"He was a great friend," said Steve Metzler, who lives in Green Bay. "He was always smiling … the life of the party. He was always upbeat. He was a hard worker and he was a dedicated worker … and he was a man of his word.

"He was a lot of fun, he was a dedicated kid. You couldn't have asked for a nicer guy."

The Department of Defense had not yet given public notification of Zimmerman's death Saturday afternoon. That announcement from the military normally takes a day or two after family is told of the death.

But the news had spread among family and friends.

Steve Metzler's family heard the news Friday afternoon; just days after Troy got a phone call from Luke in Iraq.

"Things were going quite well," Metzler said. "They were arresting some insurgents, and they were searching for roadside bombs and insurgents from what he mentioned."

They last saw him in summer when Zimmerman was home on leave and attended one of Metzler's son's pre-wedding activities.

"He couldn't stand up for the wedding because he had to go to Iraq, but he came to the shower and then he had to leave," Metzler said.

Zimmerman's family members declined comment Saturday. American and Marine Corps flags snapped on a staff in front of the town of Green Bay home and a blue star flag — signifying a family member on active duty — hung in the window.

Claire Dombrowski, Zimmerman's mother, wouldn't talk publicly about her son .

A man who came to the door gave a brief statement, "His service was exemplary and that will speak for itself."

Zimmerman is the second Marine from Luxemburg-Casco High School to die in Iraq. In April 2004 Marine Cpl. Jesse Thiry, 23, of Casco was killed in Anbar province.

Thiry and Zimmerman graduated in 2000 and the two men were described as friends who hung out together and followed the same path into the Marines.

For Randy Thiry, Zimmerman's death hurts just as much as it did 2½ years ago when he got the news about his son.

"It's déjà vu," he said shortly after talking to Zimmerman's parents Saturday. "It brings back a lot of memories… It doesn't get any easier. It's just like day one."

Randy Thiry said Zimmerman was an upstanding individual and a "very, very nice kid."

Sue Thiry said she believes the two Marines crossed paths later in life when they were home on leave at the same time and may have crossed paths in the Corps.

Metzler said serving in the Marine Corps was something Zimmerman had worked for since he was in his teens.

"Since eighth grade, he was talking about joining. This is something he always wanted to do," he said. "It's something he had in his heart, and he was going to do it. He believed in it, and when they sent him to Iraq, he did not waiver. He wanted to go fight for his country."

This was Zimmerman's first tour in Iraq, where he had been for the past few months, Metzler said.

Both Zimmerman and Thiry wrestled at Luxemburg-Casco, where wrestling coach Bob Berceau said Zimmerman was a hard worker and was always fun to be around.

"Just a go-getter, he always had a lot of fire in him," he said. "He was just a nice kid to have around … He always had a smile on his face."

Six people from the Green Bay area have died in Iraq since February of 2004.

Through Friday, 2,808 military members and civilian Department of Defense employees have been killed in Iraq since the war started in March 2003, according to the Department of Defense. October has seen 98 American military members killed in Iraq, according to the Associated Press.

But the numbers don't tell the stories of the men and women serving in Iraq and their lives before the military. Zimmerman is remembered as a friend, a son, a teammate and fellow Marine by those he leaves behind.

"He was a family friend, and I knew he was going to be friends with us forever," Steve Metzler said. "It's a big loss for us and big loss for a lot of people. He was a great person."

From the Press Gazette