Michael J. Smith Jr
Profile
Age: 21
From: Jefferson, Ohio
Assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, at Twentynine Palms, Calif.
Incident: Marine Lance Cpl. Michael J. Smith Jr. was killed April 17 by enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq.
Died: April 17, 2004
Marine killed in Iraq buried in West Virginia
By Vicki Smith
Associated Press
BEECH BOTTOM, W.Va. — A Marine known for pranks, an offbeat sense of humor and a moral compass that helped to guide other men was buried April 28 in a hilltop cemetery just miles from the town where he grew up.
Hundreds of people lined the streets to pay their respects to Lance Cpl. Michael Smith Jr. as the funeral procession traveled from Steubenville, Ohio, through Follansbee and Wellsburg to the cemetery in Beech Bottom.
Smith, 21, of Wintersville, Ohio, died April 18 from injuries received during enemy action in Al Anbar province in Iraq. He was among four Marines killed. All were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, from Twentynine Palms, Calif.
The military has said information about the attack was being kept vague for security reasons.
Smith was born in Wheeling and grew up in Wellsburg, where he...