Darrel J. Morris

Age:   21 Hometown: Spokane, WA Date of Death: 1/21/2007 Incident Location: Anbar province, Iraq Branch of Military:   Marines Rank: Cpl Unit: 2nd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force Unit's Base: Camp Lejeune, N.C

Darrel J. Morris learned early that he had to stay focused and work hard. When he was 9 and his sister, Danielle, was 6, their mother, who struggled with drugs, failed to come home one day. When the food ran out, Morris decided to hold a garage sale so he could earn money to feed himself and his little sister. One weekend, neighbors noticed Morris _ who was in third grade at the time _ trying to drag a couch out the front door all by himself. The children were taken in by their aunt and uncle, Kim and Mik Cole. "For him, everything was a gift," said Mik Cole. "Rather than he deserved it. He understood that if he wanted something, he had to work for it." Morris, 21, of Spokane, Wash., was killed Jan. 21 when his vehicle hit a bomb at an Anbar province checkpoint. He was assigned to Camp Lejeune. The Rev. Michael Rice-Sauer described Morris as a go-getter, a guy who was never late and one who paid careful attention to the details. But there was one thing that could slow Morris down. "A mirror," he said. Morris was so neat and orderly that he wouldn't even tolerate smudges on his tennis shoes. To his aunt's dismay, he would use her dish towels to clean off his shoes.

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