Marine Lance Cpl. Nickolas A. Daniels

Died November 5, 2011 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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25, of Elmwood Park, Ill.; assigned to 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.; died Nov. 5  in Helmand province, Afghanistan, while conducting combat operations.

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Lance cpl. killed in Helmand province

Staff report

The Marine Corps identified a Marine killed in Afghanistan on Sunday as Lance Cpl. Nickolas A. Daniels, 25.

Daniels, of Elmwood Park, Ill., died of wounds he sustained during combat operations in Helmand province, the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif., said in a news release.

Daniels, a combat engineer with 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., was on his first deployment to Afghanistan.

He had enlisted in January 2010 and had received several military awards and decorations, including the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

Daniels, a former Chicago high school football player, had helped coach a team at his alma mater before he joined the Marine Corps, friends and relatives told the Chicago Tribune. He had planned to marry his fiancée after he returned home the deployment.

“He was glad to go and fight for our country, and he made the great sacrifice,” his grandmother, Susie Daniels, told the Tribune.