Joshua M. Schmitz killed during combat operations

In the town of Loyal, military service is a way of life.

"Every possible male went to serve in the Civil War and that's how the town got the name Loyal," Loyal High School math teacher Jim McBride said.

And there's no greater loyalty than giving your life for another. Marine Josh Schmitz took his town's namesake to heart and proudly enlisted in the Marine Corps after his high school graduation.

"I shook his hand and thanked him and the last thing I told him was please be safe," McBride said.

In the end, Schmitz made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. Leaving behind a proud but grief stricken community on Tuesday.

"I just spoke to him in the summer, in the hallway here, he always made a point to come up and say hello and chat and tell you what's going on and how things were and I never thought it would be the last time I was going to see him," Josh's choir teacher Joe Anderson said.

His teachers remember his kindness and a sense of humor that could brighten any room.

"Quite the class clown, always had good positive fun in class, he kinda lightened the atmosphere," McBride said.

"He was just a really fun young man to be around, it was never a dull moment with him and his friends," Anderson said.

And they say this talented young man, who excelled in both football and the school choir, will leave a deep void in a community that's seen it's share of heartache.

"I was thinking it was just two years ago this month that we lost Todd, and then now Josh and I'm still trying to react to it," Anderson said.

On December 26th 2004, exactly two years before Josh Schmitz was killed, Sergeant Todd Olson of loyal was also killed in Iraq.

"The community will take this family and they will put them under our wing, just like we did the Olson family a couple years ago and we will try to give them anything and everything that they want or need," McBride said.

He says Olson's memory lives on, and though both men were taken before their time, they left behind a lasting impression.

"He has not been forgotten, it will be a long time before these two people will be forgotten," McBride said.

Because in loyal, the loyalty and honor of hero's lasts forever.

From WEAU 13