Football field to honor fallen soldier

WARSAW, Ind. -- A youth football field has been dedicated in memory of a Marine who was the first person from Indiana killed in combat during the war in Iraq.\nMore than 150 people attended the dedication Sunday of the David Fribley Football Field at Richardson-DuBois Park.\nLance Cpl. David Fribley, a 1996 Warsaw Community High School graduate, was among nine Marines killed in ambush near An Nasiriyah, about 230 miles southwest of Baghdad on March 23, 2003.\nThe football field, built with donations and volunteer labor from the community, is now home to the Young Tigers Football team in the city about 40 miles west of Fort Wayne.\n"We're just tickled to death to have a home of our own," said Dave McCool, assistant commissioner for the Tigers. "To actually have a place to call our own is just awesome."\nA special area marked by three poles flying the American, Indiana and Marine flags surrounds a monument honoring Fribley, who was 26 when he died.\nThe black stone monument is engraved with a message that Fribley had written before his death. "Semper Fi," it begins. "The greatest gift one can give to another is the gift of service. The following is my gift to you."\nWhile some said that Fribley avoided the spotlight, he would have been proud, said his father, Garry Fribley.\n"I'm just in awe," he said. "I know David would be just ecstatic."\nAnd maybe just a little embarrassed, said his brother Steve, a senior airman in the Air Force.\n"He loved to be the best, but he didn't want people to make a huge deal about him," he said.\nGarry Fribley said he and his wife, Linda, always have encouraged their children to follow their dreams.\n"What David wanted to do was make the Iraqi people free," he said. "This was the right thing to do."\nSince February 2003, 28 Indiana military personnel sent to the Middle East have died during the war in Iraq.