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A highly decorated Marine from New Jersey was killed while on patrol in western Iraq, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.
Staff Sgt. Anthony L. Goodwin, 33, formerly of Mount Holly, was an infantry unit leader with the 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. The unit was on a mission to disrupt insurgent activities near Qaim, said 2nd Lt. Barry Edwards, a spokesman for the 2nd Marine Division.
Goodwin joined the Marine Corps in September 1989 and had received more than two dozen medals and commendations during his time in the service, Edwards said. He was a veteran of the first Gulf War and had deployed to Iraq as part of the II Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Lejeune, N.C.
“His unit conducted patrols to prevent insurgents from developing strongholds in the remote cities of western Iraq,” Edwards told the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill.
The Pentagon said Goodwin was killed by small-arms fire. He died during a day of intense fighting as U.S. troops conducted an offensive in a desert region believed to be a staging area for insurgent assaults.