Marine Pfc. Chase A. Edwards

Died April 6, 2006 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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19, of Lake Charles, La.; assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; killed April 6 while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.

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N.C.-based Marine spoke to mother the day he died

The Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — The morning of the day he died, Marine Pfc. Chase A. Edwards told his mother in a telephone call that his area of Iraq had become more dangerous.

Edwards, 19, who was killed Thursday while on patrol in Ramadi, west of Baghdad in Anbar province, said his unit had lost four men Friday and Sunday. Some of his friends were worried, he said.

His mother, Melody Hartwell, asked her son how he was feeling.

“He said Mom, ‘I’m very at peace,”’ she said.

Then he described how he said prayers and listened to a CD before going out on patrol. He repeated the ceremony when he returned to camp.

“When he said that he was at peace, I could hear in his voice that he really meant it, that he really was,” Hartwell said.

She said her son died when an improvised bomb exploded near the Humvee he was driving.

Edwards had joined the Corps after graduating from Barbe High School in Lake Charles, La., last spring. His unit deployed from Camp Lejeune to Iraq about a month ago.

Even in high school, he was a straight arrow, said stepfather, Dennis Hartwell.

“He didn’t party, and he didn’t have any time for nonsense,” Melody Hartwell said. “He had his goals and his plans, and he stuck to them.”

He studied the Marine Corps for two years before enlisting and was such an expert that he was able to help his buddies through boot camp.

“His whole life, truly, from the day he was born, he was probably destined to be a Marine,” his mother said.

After the Marines, he planned to study criminal justice in college and go into law enforcement.

Survivors include his mother and stepfather; his father, Andrew F. Edwards, and stepmother, Lisa Edwards, both of Willis, Texas; sister, Christin Edwards, 14; and brother, Lyndon Hartwell, 17.

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Camp Lejeune Marine killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A Camp Lejeune Marine was killed while conducting combat operations in Iraq, the military announced Friday.

Pfc. Chase A. Edwards, 19, of Lake Charles, La., died Thursday in the Anbar province. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

Edwards joined the Marines in May 2005 and earned the Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and National Defense Service Medal, said 1st Lt. Barry Edwards, a Camp Lejeune spokesman.

Chase Edwards is at least the fifth Marine from Camp Lejeune reported dead this week. The Department of Defense said Wednesday that four Marines from the base had been killed in two separate incidents.