Marine Pfc. Michael M. Carey

Died May 18, 2004 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom

20, of Prince George, Va.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died May 18 after he apparently fell into a canal in Iraq and did not resurface. His body was recovered the same day.

Serendipity brought Michael Carey to a Marine Corps recruiting office when he was 17. The Army recruiter wasn't there when Carey and his grandfather stopped by, so they checked next door with the Marine recruiting office. A Marine combat engineer from Hopewell, Va., Carey, 20, drowned May 18 in the Euphrates River while trying to defuse a bomb under a bridge. He never met his daughter, Mia, who was born May 5. "He was a brave man," his brother, Kristopher, said. "I love you, Mikey. Thank you for making me what I am." Carey also is survived by his wife.

— Associated Press