Nathan R. Elrod killed in combat

Before he left for Iraq, Lance Cpl. Nathan R. Elrod told his best friend what he wanted his family to know in case he died.

On Monday, his family heard from that best friend, Lauren McLelland, at their home in Salisbury, 40 miles northeast of Charlotte.

Elrod wanted to make his father, Tim, proud, she told them. He loved his younger sister, Shannon, and wanted to do more for her. And, his mother, Teresa, was the one he could turn to no matter what.

"'I'm not scared of dying,'" Elrod had told McLelland. "'I'm scared of what it's going to do to my family and friends.'"

The 20-year-old Marine was one of four from Camp Lejeune who died Saturday in Iraq's Anbar province in what has become the deadliest month this year for U.S. troops. Also killed were Lance Cpls. Clifford R. Collinsworth, 20, and Nicholas J. Manoukian, 22, both of Michigan, and Cpl. Joshua W. Watkins, 25, of Jacksonville, Fla., the Department of Defense announced Monday.

Family members were too upset to talk Monday evening, said Chris Elrod, Nathan's stepbrother, and knew little about the explosion that killed him and the other Marines.

"We don't know very much at this point," he said.

It was Nathan Elrod's second tour of duty in Iraq.

Friends of the 2004 East Rowan High School graduate bowed their heads in silence at a soccer game at the school Monday night while his name was called out on the same field where he used to play.

He was active in the Junior ROTC program in high school and joined the Marines after graduation, said Laurel Julian, 18, another of his friends. He wanted to finish out his military service next year so that he could study to be a diesel mechanic, growing out of his love of cars. He also enjoyed movies -- especially action films -- and the band Metallica.

He was able to meet his newborn niece Morgan at her Charlotte home before he went to Iraq. "That just made his day, being an uncle," McLelland said.

The Salisbury Marine called friends and family often from Iraq. When he called Julian last week, he told her that things in Iraq were more dangerous than last year. "It was going to be a lot harder than what it was last time," she said, recalling the phone conversation.

But he was looking forward to coming back to Salisbury in April, when he would have celebrated his 21st birthday.

Family are waiting for his body to arrive before setting the date of his funeral.

From the News Observer