Christopher E. Esckelson killed during combat operations

VASSAR - Today would have been U.S. Marine Cpl. Christopher E. Esckelson's birthday.

But he won't turn 23.

The Vassar man died Thursday in a firefight in Iraq, trying to root insurgents out of war-torn Fallujah, his parents said.

''He was a squad leader in charge of 12 guys, and he was pulling one of the injured guys out of the way, and he took a direct hit. Game over,'' said David Esckelson, 48, of Vassar, Christopher Esckelson's father.

''He called me two days before Christmas and told me he was going on a five-day mission, and that's the one he didn't make it back from,'' David Esckelson said. ''He told me 'Merry Christmas' and he said he'd call me back in a couple days after the work was done.

''But I never got the call.''

Christopher Esckelson knew the risks, and saw the horror, of war after arriving in Iraq in September. But fear ''wasn't in him,'' his father said.

''After the elections here in November I said 'Son, the Democrats took over - what do you think about coming home?''' David Esckelson said.

''He said 'Dad, I ain't coming home. I gotta pay these SOBs back.' The second week he was there, a humvee got blown up right in front of him, and it turned him into a very, very angry Marine.

''He was very, very angry to see his fellow Marines injured. He said 'Dad, there's no training they can give you to help you see your fellow Marines blown to pieces.'

Funeral services have yet to be set for Christopher Esckelson, a 2002 graduate of Vassar High School. The Marine's remains won't arrive back in Vassar for at least a week, according to his father.

Esckelson wanted to be a doctor. He had attended classes at Delta College and joined the Marine Corps Reserve as a way of earning money to pay for school, but that was only part of his motivation.

''He wanted to be a Marine,'' his father said.

Christopher Esckelson's mother, Michelle ''Mitzi'' (Lich) Hill of Vassar, said she didn't want her son to join the Marine Corps after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

''He just said 'Oh no, I'll be a Marine. That's what I want to do,''' Mitzi Hill said. ''He didn't follow everyone else. He was a leader.'' Christopher Esckelson is survived by his parents and by a brother, Craig Esckelson, and a sister, Kerry Esckelson, both of Vassar.

Word of Esckelson's death spread to barber shops and restaurants around Vassar, population 2,700, on Friday.

''You hate to see one of your hometown boys get killed,'' said Charlene Karr, owner of Karr's Kafe, whose 24-year-old nephew, Marine Cpl. Anthony Morgan of Vassar, returned from duty in Iraq two months ago.

Fallujah, where Christopher Esckelson died, ''is a very dangerous place, with mostly snipers there, and when we were there that was the main threat, the snipers from higher buildings,'' Morgan said.

David Esckelson said his son was in a group of about 150 Marines living in a train station in Fallujah, where conditions were far from ideal. For example, he said soldiers showered by standing under an elevated bag of water.

''My son was a warrior, and that's not just a father talking,'' David Esckelson said. ''He ran a 'saw,' a fully automatic weapon with 1,000 rounds in it. You pull the trigger once and it shoots 35 times within five seconds.

''He was actually carrying two guns at the same time. He looked like ... Rambo, I'm telling you. He had a 10-round rocket launcher and he'd carry that, too.

''He was in a 12-man SWAT team, and in Fallujah. It was definitely front-line stuff. It wasn't guarding the water cooler.''

From the Bay City Times