Marine Corps News, news from Iraq - Marine Corps Times

2 dead, 2 injured after bomb hits 24th MEU

Two Marines were killed and two wounded in Afghanistan on Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded near a 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit convoy, according to media reports.

The Defense Department has not confirmed the deaths. The Athens Banner-Herald in Georgia and The Morning News in Arkansas reported that 1st Sgt. Luke Mercardante, 35, and Kyle Wilks, 24, were killed, based on interviews with family members notified by the Marine Corps.

The New York Times and Baltimore Sun, both with correspondents in Afghanistan, also reported the deaths on their Web sites Thursday. They did not confirm the names of the casualties.

The Marines are the first assigned to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit to be killed since the unit deployed in March to Kandahar province, to calm insurgent violence in the southern portion of Afghanistan.

Bridget Clark, Mercardante’s sister, told the Banner-Herald that her brother said in an e-mail recently how proud he was to be a part of the Afghanistan mission.

“I want no person to ever feel sad or pity for me or my Marines as we endure hardship and sacrifice, as this is our calling, with the unknown outcome being God’s master plan,” the e-mail said, according to the newspaper.

The Morning News reported that Corps officials told Wilks’ parents, Randall and Kathy Wilks of Rogers, Ark., that the attacked convoy was 36 vehicles long.

“He was just an outstanding young man that my daughters and grandchildren looked up to,” Terry Mudd, Wilks’ uncle, told The Morning News. “It’s hard to picture — he was home in February and I saw him and now, he’s gone.”

Information on the wounded Marines has not been released.