Michael C. Ledsome killed in combat

An Austin family is mourning the loss of their son, brother, husband and father. 24-year-old Marine Corporal Michael Ledsome died Saturday fighting in Iraq.

Being a Marine was more than just a calling for Michael. It was also apparently a family tradition.

Michael joined the military with his brother. Together they were following in the footsteps of their father.

Saturday he was in a firefight near the Anbar Province when he was shot and killed.

His grandmother says he was recently out of the hospital, injured back in August when a roadside bomb exploded near his convoy.

Michael Ledsome joined the Marines shortly after marrying Megan Smith in Austin. The couple has a two-year-old son.

"We have our crying spells you know," says Joann Ledsome, Michael's grandmother. "It still doesn't seem real it really doesn't. But you know they are fighting for a cause."

Joann says that when she sent Michael care packages he told her it was just like Christmas. His family members describe him as an athletic teenager who loved to golf.

Before joining the Marines he ran a pro shop at a golf course here in Austin.

From Fox 42