Marine Lance Cpl. Philip J. Martini

Died April 08, 2006 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom

24, of Lansing, Ill.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died April 8 of a gunshot wound while conducting combat operations in Anbar Province, Iraq.

Lansing Marine killed in Anbar Province, Iraq

LANSING, Ill. — The Department of Defense on Friday confirmed the death of a 24-year-old Marine from this south Chicago suburb.

Lance Cpl. Philip J. Martini was killed by sniper fire last weekend in Anbar Province, Iraq, the DoD said in a statement. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Martini was a 2000 graduate of Thornton Fractional South High School in Lansing and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2003. He spent a few months on a tsunami-relief assignment in southeast Asia before serving in Iraq for five months last year, his brother, Anthony Martini, said Thursday.

He left home for a second Iraq tour in January.

— Associated Press