Marine Cpl. Nicholas G. Xiarhos

Died July 23, 2009 serving during Operation Enduring Freedom

21, of Yarmouth Port, Mass.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died July 23 at Camp Dwyer, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained while supporting combat operations in Helmand province. Also killed were Sgt. Ryan H. Lane and Lance Cpl. Jeremy S. Lasher.

Marine remembered as motivated, selfless

The Associated Press

At 6 feet, Nicholas G. Xiarhos was muscular and strong, but gentle at heart. After returning from service in Iraq, he changed battalions so he could be deployed to Afghanistan.

“He didn’t feel comfortable living an easy life,” said his mother, Lisa. “He just wanted to fight.”

Xiarhos, 21, of Yarmouth, Mass., was killed July 23 in a roadside bombing in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was a 2006 high school graduate and was assigned to Camp Lejeune.

Cpl. Matthew Madeux said Xiarhos was “one of the most phenomenal Marines” he ever met. At Camp Lejeune, he was always the first to make sure young Marines minded their manners around women, insisting they use the formal “ma’am.”

Paul Funk, Xiarhos’s high school football and baseball coach, remembered him as a motivated, selfless player. “I know he was doing something that he really believed in,” he said.

Rebecca M. Barbo, a close friends, remembered their drives around the Cape blasting classic rock. She said his peers voted to present him the “Does Most For Others” title their senior year.

“It was a no-brainer,” she said.

He also is survived by his father, Steven.