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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

3 Indiana Marines killed in Afghanistan violence in 1 week

Residents of three Indiana communities are mourning the deaths of three Marines killed in Afghanistan. Their bodies arrived back in the United States during the weekend.

The deaths represent the state’s most concentrated losses in that war since four Indiana National Guard soldiers died in a 2005 explosion.

The military didn’t immediately release details on the deaths of 22-year-old Cpl. Gregory Stultz of Brazil and 24-year-old Lance Cpl. Joshua Birchfield of LaPorte. Their bodies arrived Sunday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

A third Indiana Marine — 27-year-old Sgt. Jeremy R. McQueary of Columbus — was killed during combat in Afghanistan on Thursday. His body arrived in
Dover on Saturday.

McQueary’s mother, Deborah Kleinschmidt, said he survived two other attacks from homemade bombs before the explosion that killed him. Both times he had been in protected vehicles.

“This time he was on foot patrol,” she said.

McQueary is survived by his wife and 5-month-old son. He married his high school sweetheart, Rae, in 2004. The couple’s son, Hadley, was just 1 month old when McQueary was deployed to Afghanistan in October.

He didn’t much like high school, his family said, and graduated early from Columbus East so he could get into the Marines sooner.

“He felt they were the best of the best,” said McQueary’s stepfather Dave Kleinschmidt.

In northwestern Indiana, a sign reading “We Will Miss You Birch — God Bless” hung outside the Blackhawk Inn in Westville, where Birchfield grew up.

Mike Siddall recalled Birchfield’s generous side.

“He’s a good ol’ country boy — take the shirt right off his back for you,” said Siddall, who fought back tears. “He will never be forgotten.”

Bartender Mindy Michaels said the bar was taking donations for an ongoing donation drive Birchfield had started to aid military support organizations.

Stultz, meanwhile, had returned a few months ago to his western Indiana hometown and visited with his Northview High School guidance counselor, Scott McDonald.

“He was out at the school and I talked to him for a bit,” McDonald said. “He looked great. He was pretty much the same kid, except for a lot of ‘yes sirs’ and ‘no sirs.’”
Stultz reached the state high school wrestling regionals as a senior in 2006.

“He got on the straight and narrow because of wrestling,” said Northview wrestling coach Dan Mikesell. “It’s something that kept him focused.”

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