Marine Lance Cpl. Luis J. Castillo

Died January 20, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

20, of Lawton, Mich.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve Lansing, Mich.; died Jan. 20 of wounds suffered while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.

* * * * *

Governor orders flags lowered to honor Marine

The Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Jennifer Granholm ordered that U.S. flags be lowered Jan. 30 to honor a Marine from Michigan who died in Iraq.

The order issued Jan. 26 honors Lance Cpl. Luis J. Castillo of Lawton, who died Jan. 20 from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Anbar province.

Castillo, 20, was assigned to the Marine Force Reserves 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, in Lansing.

* * * * *

Michigan Marine, soldiers killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

A Marine corporal from Milford, Mich., was killed while serving in Iraq, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Mark D. Kidd, 26, died Jan. 25 from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Anbar province.

Kidd was assigned to the Marine Forces Reserve’s 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division in Mount Clemens, Mich.

He was one semester away from graduating from Eastern Michigan University, where he was a pre-law student with hopes of becoming an international lawyer, the Detroit Free Press reported. He graduated from Wixom Christian School in 1998.

Kidd had served three tours of duty in Iraq before he volunteered to be deployed in August.

He was the third member of the military with Michigan ties to die in Iraq in a week.

Marine Lance Cpl. Luis J. Castillo, 20, of Lawton died Jan. 20, also while conducting combat operations in Anbar province. He was assigned to the Marine Forces Reserve’s 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division in Lansing.

On Jan. 22, Army Spc. Brandon Stout, 23, of Grand Rapids was killed when an explosive detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad. Stout was assigned to the 46th Military Police Company, Michigan Army National Guard in Kingsford.

Stout was a 2002 graduate of Kent City High School, about 20 miles north of Grand Rapids. After being activated in July, Stout deployed to Fort Dix, N.J., and reached Iraq in October. He was assigned to help Iraqi police with their duties, his mother-in-law, Laura Hinken, told The Grand Rapids Press.

Hinken, of Grand Rapids, said she regarded Stout as her own son.

“Oh, man, if I gave birth to him, I could not love him any more,” she said. “You met him, and you liked him right away. He was the most wonderful husband that I could ask a daughter to have.”

Her daughter, Audrey, who lives with Laura Hinken and her husband Gary, learned at the same time that her husband had died.

Audrey Stout said her husband joined the Guard in June 2003.

“He just really felt called to serve,” she said. “He had hoped to be a chaplain’s assistant when he joined the Guard. But he was very proud to be an MP.”

The pair met while attending Great Lakes Christian College in Lansing. They were married in May 2005 and she moved back in with her parents after he shipped out.

Stout’s mother, Tracy Anderson, 39, of Kent City, said she was comforted by the fact that her son believed in what he was doing in Iraq.

“He knew it was his job and he was proud to serve,” Anderson said. “He didn’t complain. He didn’t try to get out of it. He was very proud to want to go and serve.”