Marine Corps Pfc. Matthew G. Milczark

Died March 8, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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18, of Kettle River, Minn.; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died March 8 in a non-combat related incident at Camp Victory, Kuwait.

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Marine dies in Kuwait

Marine Corps Times staff

A Marine private died Monday of a non-combat related gunshot wound while deployed with his infantry battalion to Camp Victory, Kuwait, defense officials announced.

Pfc. Matthew G. Milczark, 18,. was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Further details about his death were not immediately available.

His unit is among seven infantry battalions deploying this spring as part of a 25,000-Marine force slated for the first of two seven-month Marine Corps rotations to Iraq.

Milczark, of Kettle River, Minn., joined the Marine Corps on June 24 and his personal awards include the National Defense Service Medal, according to Camp Pendleton officials. He is the first Marine to die in the Corps’ latest large-scale deployment to Iraq.

The last known Marine death in the war zone came eight months ago.

Lance Cpl. Cory Ryan Geurin, 18, of Santee, Calif., was killed July 15 when he fell about 60 feet from the roof of a palace building in Babylon, Iraq. Geurin was assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif.