Harry H. Timberman killed during combat operations

Neighbors of Marine Lance Cpl. Harry H. Timberman's mother in the Washburn County village of Minong immediately noticed the dark SUV parked in front of her home over the weekend.

News spreads fast in the tiny northwestern Wisconsin community, whose residents would learn that the Marine officials inside the vehicle were there to inform Cynthia Coshow that her 20-year-old son had been killed in Iraq.

"He was just a really great kid, a really fun kid," said Rosemary Doyle, a guidance counselor at Northwood High School.

"He came back to the school to visit several times in his uniform," Doyle recalled.

"He looked so proud."

Timberman died Saturday from wounds received in combat in Anbar province, the U.S. Department of Defense said Monday. He was a rifleman with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif., the department said.

Gunnery Sgt. Chris Cox, a Marine spokesman in Twentynine Palms, said Timberman joined the corps Aug. 9, 2005, and deployed to Iraq with his unit in January.

When he visited Northwood High in December, his Marine uniform sparked excitement among small children attending the K-12 school, Doyle said.

Timberman and his mother moved to Minong from Colorado in 2001, she said.

He competed on the school's wrestling team and volunteered with "Students Offering Support," a group that organized events and engaged younger students in activities, Doyle said.

"He was really good with what we call cross-age activities, like face painting and collecting coats and boots" for the needy, Doyle said.

After graduating from Washburn County Alternative High School in Shell Lake in June 2004, Timberman, while applying to enlist in the Marines, asked Doyle to be his character reference.

"Being a mother I told him I would, but I wanted him to be careful," she said.

Along with his mother, Timberman is survived by has father, also named Harry Timberman.

From the Sentinel