Marine Corps News Room

http://www.azcentral.com/community/westvalley/articles/1029gl-lplapka29Z1.html

David Madrid
Glendale Republic
Oct. 29, 2005 12:00 AM

Christopher J. Lapka was born a Marine.

One year ago Sunday, he died a Marine.

Marine Corps Cpl. Christopher Lapka, a member of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Hawaii, would be 23 years old now.

He died Oct. 30, 2004. A year later, the toll from the war in Iraq has reached 2,000 such deaths.

Tina Lapka, Christopher's mother, remembers the near-perfect son, who even as a child already had the requisite traits of a Marine.

"You could tell him to go stand in a place, and he would do it," she said. "He would never cry. All he wore, until he was about 7 years old, was camouflage."

Christopher accomplished much in his short life. He had perfect attendance throughout most of his school and earned straight A's. He was a wrestler at Sunrise Mountain High School. He left Arizona State University, where he was studying to become a civil engineer, to join the Marine Corps.

In the end, Christopher was what he most coveted in his young life: a Marine.

The Peoria resident was serving as a fire-team leader in Bravo Company and had just completed a mission near Fallujah that he had volunteered for.

As the company returned to Camp Fallujah, Christopher was riding in a seven-ton truck when a sports utility vehicle full of explosives rammed it, instantly killing him and seven other Marines.

Among the letters his family received after his death from his friends and officers, some of the same words appear over and over again: "respect," "patriotic," "mature," "humble," "leader," "unselfish," "professional," "dedicated" and "brave."

Many noted his smile.

"He had an amazing balance of clumsiness and grace," wrote a fellow Marine, Cpl. David R. Coan. "He made tripping on a cot and falling into water jugs look like a ballet. Most of all, he always greeted me with a smile, and I will never forget his smile."

Perhaps it is best to hear Christopher explain how he came to be in a war in Iraq.

"Before graduating high school, I had decided I would come into the Marine Corps after college to become an officer unless war broke out, then I would just enlist," he wrote.

Then came Sept. 11, 2001.

"I could not sleep well at night, and all I thought about was how my friends would be sent to combat and risk life and limb so that I could live a safe, quiet, protected life back in the United States.

"I felt that I could not see myself as a man unless I was willing to put myself in the same situation that my friends would soon be in. I could not ask another man to risk his life for me without being willing to do the same for him."

Christopher is survived by his mother; his father, Ken; and his sister, Michelle.

Reach the reporter at david.madrid@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-6926.