Marine Lance Cpl. David A. Huhn

Remember Our Heroes

Marine Lance Cpl. David A. Huhn, 24, of Portland, Mich.

Lance Cpl Huhn was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.; attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward); killed Dec. 1 by an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Fallujah, Iraq.

Lance Corporal Dave Huhn graduated from Portland High School in 2000. He joined the Marines in 2004 and was sent to Iraq earlier this summer. He only had a month left until he was scheduled to come home.

His family first got word of his death just before 1am Friday, and they've spent the day trying to accept the fact that he's really gone. Lance Corporal Dave Huhn's uncle Jeffrey Helmel says Huhn was a typical guy.

Jeffrey Helmel, uncle: "He played football in high school, he would fish, play cards, he liked video games."

But when he enlisted in the Marines specifically to fight in Iraq, his uncle say he did a not-so-typical thing.

Jeffrey Helmel: "He went to a place not real popular now, he went with a purpose and a mission, he went to carry out that mission."

He hadn't even been in the Marines yet for 2 full years, but his family says he already planned to make the military his career, and if Huhn could talk to them today, Helmel says he thinks he'd tell them to be strong.

Jeffrey Helmel: "I think he would say, don't worry about me, I did what I wanted to do. I was there for a purpose, I wanted to come home and it just didn't happen."

Now his family here at home is left to carry on without him, but they will never forget anything about him or the sacrifice he made.

Jeffrey Helmel: "He went there for us. Freedom comes at a cost and it seems that every generation has to pay that cost."

Marine Lance Cpl. David A. Huhn was killed in action on 12/01/05.