Luke Zimmerman remembered

Luke Zimmerman couldn't attend the wedding of his good friend Troy Metzler because he was in Iraq, so Zimmerman did the next best thing.

He wrote Metzler a letter telling him how much their friendship, which began when they were eighth-grade wrestling partners, meant to him, and how much he wished he could be in Green Bay for the wedding celebration.

Zimmerman's letter was sent in lieu of a wedding present. It was read at Metzler's Aug. 5 nuptials.

"That was all the gift that I needed," said Metzler.

Though they corresponded frequently via e-mail, the buddies spoke last week for the first time since Metzler got married. Zimmerman wanted details of the wedding. Three days later, Metzler got another call.

It was Zimmerman's mother. Claire Dombrowski said her son had been killed in Iraq.

Zimmerman, 24, had shipped out last summer for Iraq after signing up for another hitch in the Marines. The 2000 Luxemburg-Casco High School graduate was good friends with Jesse Thiry; the two were in the same graduating class and joined the Marines about the same time. Thiry, 23, was killed in Fallujah in April 2004.

Death details unavailable
Now Zimmerman's name is on the list of 62 military members from Wisconsin who have died in Iraq. The Department of Defense had not released details Sunday on the circumstances of Zimmerman's death on Friday.

For Randy Thiry, Zimmerman's death is just as painful as the news of his son's death, because the two young men were very close.

"It brings back a lot of memories," said Thiry, whose son is buried next to St. Peter's Catholic Church in the unincorporated community of Lincoln, not far from where he and Zimmerman grew up.

On Sunday, Zimmerman's family declined to comment. A man who answered the phone at his family's Town of Green Bay home said Zimmerman would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

"We won't hold him higher than the next Marine - his exemplary service speaks for itself," he said.

Zimmerman ran cross country and track and wrestled in high school. He and Metzler were the same weight in eighth grade, so they were paired up as training partners. He ended up wrestling on Luxemburg-Casco's varsity for two years, finishing his career at 145 pounds.

Zimmerman used the last 15 minutes on his phone card Tuesday to call Metzler. They talked about the wedding - "He was bummed he missed it" - what was happening back home in Wisconsin and what he was doing in Iraq.

Steve Metzler, Troy's father, hired Zimmerman to work at his wife's restaurant, Julie's Café in Green Bay.

"He started out as a dishwasher, but we found out what a great people person he was and how much everyone liked him, so we put him out front as a cashier," said Steve Metzler, who planned to put a memorial to Zimmerman on the restaurant's marquee sign.

Zimmerman worked at the café for four years, where he was known for being a hard worker with a perpetual smile on his face and who never missed a day of work.

Marines a childhood goal
Joining the Marines was a goal ever since he was an eighth-grader. During boot camp he often finished at the front of the pack during training runs because he was such a fast runner. His Marine unit served overseas, including a stint in Japan, but had not been called to Iraq until this year.

Steve Metzler saw Zimmerman when he was home on leave before heading to Iraq.

"He was a little bit nervous about it, but then on the other hand he felt that he had been well trained. He wanted to serve the country and help as much as he could and get some of those bad guys off the street, and that's what he was doing," Steve Metzler said.

"He had just called my oldest son on Tuesday and talked with him. Luke told him how he was arresting people, and he felt good about that. They were driving around looking for roadside bombs."

From the Journal Sentinel

Zimmerman lived dream of being a U.S. Marine

Troy Metzler was at work Friday when he learned his best friend, U.S. Marine Sgt. Luke Zimmerman, had been killed in Iraq. The news came in a call from his brother, Scott, who had gotten a call from Zimmerman's mom.

"I hung up with him and I called a few people and then I had to call my brother back and make sure it was real," Troy Metzler said Sunday. "I'm thinking 'My God, this can't be true.' It was pretty tough. It was really hard."

Zimmerman, 24, a 2000 graduate and wrestling standout from Luxemburg-Casco High School, was the 61st member of the armed forces from Wisconsin killed in Iraq since hostilities began in March 2003. His death is the sixth from Northeastern Wisconsin.

Metzler met Zimmerman in eighth grade, wrestled on the same state championship team in 1999 and knew his buddy was destined to be a Marine.

"As long as I've known him, his dream was to be a Marine," Metzler said, adding that Zimmerman had served in Hawaii, Japan and Austria before being deployed to Iraq.

"It was his gig, definitely," Metzler said. "I don't think he would have re-enlisted if it wasn't."

Zimmerman was to stand up in Metzler's wedding in August, but was deployed to Iraq in July. Zimmerman called Metzler late last week from Iraq to get caught up on the nuptial news. It was his first call to Metzler from the combat zone.

"He was asking about (the wedding) and wanting to know how everything went."

The military has not yet confirmed Zimmerman's death, not uncommon considering the timing of the death leading into a weekend. Official notifications are typically made public 24 to 48 hours after next of kin are informed.

Zimmerman's parents — Claire and Richard Dombrowski — were notified Friday and have declined interview requests.

Wisconsin ranks 14th of all the states in Iraq deaths with 60 recorded deaths, according to an Associated Press accounting of the 3,040 line-of-duty deaths in Iraq as of Friday. The database includes all coalition forces and seven civilian contractors.

California and Texas have had 291 and 243 deaths respectively. Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Florida and Illinois each have had more than 100 military personnel killed.

It's Zimmerman's death that will ring home for Metzler.

"Luke was a very good man," said Metzler, 24. "He was always there for me. He was my best friend.

"He definitely made an impact on everybody that he met."

From the Press Gazette

Related Link:
Luke Zimmerman killed in combat