Indiana communities endure wave of Marine deaths

Indiana communities endure wave of Marine deaths
Updated: Monday, 22 Feb 2010, 4:01 PM EST
Published : Monday, 22 Feb 2010, 3:45 PM EST

INDIANAPOLIS (AP/WISH/WTHI) - Residents of three Indiana communities are mourning the deaths of three Marines killed in Afghanistan whose bodies arrived back in the United States over the weekend.

The deaths represent the state's most concentrated losses in that war since four Indiana National Guard soldiers died in a 2005 explosion.

The military said Monday that 24-year-old Lance Cpl. Joshua Birchfield of LaPorte died Feb. 19 while supporting combat operations in Afghanistan's Helmand province but released no details on how he died.

In northwestern Indiana, a sign reading "We Will Miss You Birch -- God Bless" hung outside the Blackhawk Inn in Westville, where Birchfield grew up.
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Indiana communities endure wave of Marine deaths