Cpl. Adam T. McKiski 

Cpl. Adam T. McKiski, 21, of Cherry Valley, Ill died Aug. 7 while supporting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq: He was assigned to the 1st Maintenance Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif

Even in middle school, Cpl. Adam T. McKiski knew he wanted to be a U.S. Marine like his grandfathers, friends said Tuesday. "I can't remember ever knowing Adam and him not wanting to be in the Marines," said Collin Whitchurch, a friend since childhood. "He never wavered." McKiski, 21, of Cherry Valley, near Rockford, died Thursday in a mine-resistant armor-protected vehicle accident while supporting combat operations in the Anbar province of Iraq, according to the U.S. Department of Defense and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. He worked as a towed artillery systems technician assigned to the 1st Maintenance Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif. McKiski's death came two days after his second wedding anniversary and a few weeks before he was scheduled to return home on leave, said Barbara "Babs" Erickson, a retired publications adviser at Rockford's Jefferson High School who had taught McKiski for four years. She said his wife, Jamie, was his high school sweetheart. McKiski enlisted in the Marines on Oct. 22, 2004, about six months before graduating from Jefferson. .

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Marine Saluting Courtesy Sgt Michal S. Williams

He was on his second tour of duty when he was killed, Erickson said. "He was the kind of young man that we want fighting for us because he felt it an honor to protect us," said Erickson, who watched McKiski grow up as a neighbor. "He had a real strong sense of what was right and just." For three years in high school, McKiski was Erickson's computer coordinator, keeping the 35-computer lab running for her journalism based courses. "He was very computer literate and knew way more than I did," she said. "That's why he was so instrumental in keeping that whole lab running. He was usually the most popular guy in the classroom, especially at deadline time when there would be computer glitches." Although McKiski seemed quiet to those who didn't know him well, Whitchurch said he was always cracking jokes with his close friends. Even after being deployed, he never lost touch with them. "To us, he was a riot, just a really fun loving guy," he said