Army Spc. Marshall L. Edgerton

Died December 11, 2003 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

27, of Rocky Face, Ga.; assigned to Company A, 82nd Signal Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, based in Fort Bragg, N.C.; killed Dec. 11 when his camp was attacked with an improvised explosive device in Ramadi, Iraq.

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Marshall Edgerton played defensive end in football for a while — but it was when he decided to focus on wrestling that he really blossomed.

“I think that’s where a lot of his characteristics came out. He was very energetic,” said Don Murray, who was head football coach and assistant principal at Edgerton’s high school in Dalton, Ga. “In wrestling you have to be self-disciplined, and he was very good at that.”

Edgerton, 26, died Dec. 11 in an attack by suicide bombers west of Baghdad. Stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., he left for Afghanistan in late 2000, then was home for a few months before going to Iraq.

High school teacher Martha Jo Cook described Edgerton as a “purpose-driven young man of very high character.” “He was a wonderful young man and a credit to his school and his community,” Cook said. Survivors include his wife, Amy, and children Hunter, 7, and Alyssa, 2.

— Associated Press