Marine Pfc. Brett A. Witteveen

Died February 19, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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20, of Shelby, Mich.; assigned to Marine Forces Reserve’s 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Grand Rapids, Mich.; died Feb. 19 while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.

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Well-liked Marine reservist remembered in Shelby

The Associated Press

SHELBY, Mich. — Friends and relatives are trying to comfort the family and fianc©e of Brett Witteveen, a 20-year-old Marine reservist from Shelby killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

“Half my heart is in Iraq,” Central Michigan University student Trisha Kokx wrote on her Web site as she counted the days until her high school sweetheart returned from duty. “Everything I ever wanted in life I now will never have,” Kokx wrote Feb. 20.

Kokx and Witteveen graduated from Hart High School in 2005.

Witteveen died Feb. 18 while on patrol in Fallujah, according to Grand Rapids-based Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment. He had been in Iraq since October, his unit said.

His father, Richard, said the family was not ready to talk about the tragedy, The Grand Rapids Press and The Muskegon Chronicle reported Feb. 21.

Brett Witteveen was a two-way standout end on Hart’s football team.

Mourners remember Witteveen as a “happy-go-lucky” young man who knew early on that he wanted to join the military.

“He was just a fun-loving kid, with a great smile, and knew that he wanted to serve his country,” Hart High Principal Randy Nesbit said.

Nesbit met with a youth pastor and said counselors are available for students. Kokx has two sisters at the school.

“There are a lot of teachers, elementary on, who had Brett,” Nesbit said. “When it hits close to home like this, it really does put things in perspective. I knew Brett quite well. He was just a kid who loved to laugh. Life was fun for him.”

Shelby is located about 55 miles northwest of Grand Rapids.