Our Hero's Story
High school remembers fallen Marine
Staff WriterWilmington StarNews
May 24, 2007, 6:49 a.m. ET
Elmwood, Ill. | A North Carolina-based Marine killed in Iraq this week was a friend to everyone at his tiny Illinois high school and joined the military to support his 3-year-old daughter, school officials said Wednesday.
Lance Cpl. Benjamin Desilets, 21, of Elmwood and Cpl. Julian Woodall, 21, of Tallahassee, Fla., were both killed Tuesday while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.
Both were members of the 3rd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Desilets' death weighed heavily Wednesday at the 215-student Elmwood High School, about 20 miles west of Peoria in central Illinois.
"He was just a dynamic kid. He was a very handsome boy and he was just as pretty on the inside," said English teacher Cathy Meyers, fighting back tears.
Desilets was "friends with everybody" and returned to the school several times to talk about the military since graduating three years ago, Meyers said.
"If someone new came to the school or someone was down and out, he's the one who had his arm around them saying, 'Hey, having a tough day?'●" Meyers said.
Desilets joined the Marines in September 2004 to take care of his daughter, who was born while he was in high school, Meyers said. He was trained as a field artillery fire control man and was promoted to lance corporal in 2005.