Marine Lance Cpl. Mark E. Engel

Died July 21, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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21, of Grand Junction, Colo.; assigned to 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died July 21 at Brook Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, of wounds he received July 6 due to enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq.

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N.C.-based Marine dies of wounds suffered in Iraq

Associated Press

DENVER — A North Carolina-based Marine who was wounded in fighting in Iraq has died at a Texas hospital, the Defense Department said Thursday.

Lance Cpl. Mark Engel, 21, of Centennial, Colo., died Wednesday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. He was wounded in action July 6 in Iraq’s Anbar province, the military said.

Engel was assigned to 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Marine spokesman Capt. Jeff Pool confirmed Engel’s hometown.

His father, Bill, said Engel was burned over more than 70 percent of his body and had severe lung damage and kidney failure.

“He fought a valiant fight for two weeks,” Bill Engel told KUSA-TV in Denver.

Mark Engel graduated from Cherry Creek High School in 2001 and joined the Marine Corps his first year after graduation. He would have turned 22 on Thursday.

Engel enjoyed football, rugby, skiing, snowboarding and the outdoors, his sister Dana told KUSA.

He is survived by his parents and four siblings.