
Marshall Edgerton played defensive end in football for a while — but it was when he decided to focus on wrestling that he really blossomed.
“I think that’s where a lot of his characteristics came out. He was very energetic,” said Don Murray, who was head football coach and assistant principal at Edgerton’s high school in Dalton, Ga. “In wrestling you have to be self-disciplined, and he was very good at that.”
Edgerton, 26, died Dec. 11 in an attack by suicide bombers west of Baghdad. Stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., he left for Afghanistan in late 2000, then was home for a few months before going to Iraq.
High school teacher Martha Jo Cook described Edgerton as a “purpose-driven young man of very high character.” “He was a wonderful young man and a...