Travis M. Wichlacz
Profile
Age: 22
From: West Bend, Wis.
Assigned to 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, Milwaukee, Wis.
Incident: Marine Lance Cpl. Travis M. Wichlacz was killed Feb. 5 by enemy action in Babil province, Iraq.
Died: February 05, 2005
West Bend Marine killed in Iraq
Associated Press
WEST BEND, Wis. — A 22-year-old Marine from West Bend who was killed in Iraq during the weekend had been excited about going there, his high school wrestling coach said.
“He was pretty proud of it. He took his job pretty seriously over there,” Bob Kopecky said of Lance Cpl. Travis M. Wichlacz, a 2002 graduate of West Bend West High School.
“He was a pretty tough person. He was competitive. He wasn’t afraid of anyone.”
The rifleman died Saturday in a bomb explosion in Babil province, the U.S. Defense Department said.
He was assigned to the Milwaukee-based Fox Company of the Marine Reserves’ 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, of Chicago, and he had been serving in Iraq since June 2004, the agency said.
Several other Marines were injured in the attack, said Sgt. Cecil Goodloe, a spokesman for Wichlacz’s unit.
Goodloe said Wichlacz had...