2nd Marine Division

A 19-year-old Waldorf man died Wednesday in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense said Friday. Terry E. Honeycutt Jr. suffered wounds during combat operations Oct. 21 in Helmand province in southwest Afghanistan. The lance corporal was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, N.C. A previous version of this article incorrectly stated when Terry E. Honeycutt Jr. died. The Sun regrets the error.

"Pops, when I come home, Natty Bohs and crabs?" Lance Cpl. Eugene C. "Gene" Mills III asked his father, Gene Mills II, during an impromptu phone call early last week, about a month before the younger man was due to return home to Laurel from Afghanistan. "One more mission, Pops, and I'll be home," the son told his father. "Love you, Pops. " Those were the last words his father - a retired Prince George's County police officer known as "Big Gene" - would ever hear from "Little Gene," 21, a High Road Academy graduate and Marine stationed in Helmand province, on his second deployment to the country.

The remains of Lance Cpl. Eugene C. Mills III, 21, of Laurel, who was known by some of his Marine comrades as "Gino Bambino," were scheduled to arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del., shortly before noon Monday, according to a family friend. On Friday, Mills was killed in combat in the Helmand province of Afghanistan as a Marine assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. He was the fifth service member from Maryland killed this year, and the fourth to die in Afghanistan.

The remains of Lance Cpl. Eugene C. Mills III, 21, of Laurel, who was known by some of his Marine comrades as "Gino Bambino," were scheduled to arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del., shortly before noon Monday, according to a family friend. On Friday, Mills was killed in combat in the Helmand province of Afghanistan as a Marine assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. He was the fifth service member from Maryland killed this year, and the fourth to die in Afghanistan.

As of yesterday, at least 2,817 members of the U.S. military have died since March 2003. Identifications Lance Cpl. Clifford R. Collinsworth, 20, Chelsea, Mich.; Lance Cpl. Nathan R. Elrod, 20, Salisbury, N.C.; and Lance Cpl. Nicholas J. Manoukian, 22, Lathrup Village, Mich.; killed Oct. 21 in combat in Anbar province; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force; Camp Lejeune, N.C. Staff Sgt. Patrick O. Barlow, 42, Greensboro, N.C.; died Oct. 18 in San Antonio of a noncombat-related medical condition; assigned to the 50th Engineer Company, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

A Marine from Laurel was killed Friday in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Saturday night. Lance Cpl. Eugene C. Mills III, 21, died in combat in Helmand province, the Pentagon said. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. Mills is the fifth service member from Maryland killed this year, and the fourth to die in Afghanistan. matthew.brown@baltsun.com Twitter.com/matthewhaybrown Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

William T. Rand Jr., a retired state accountant who fought in some of the key Pacific battles with the Marine Corps during World War II and was wounded in combat as an Army lieutenant in the Korean War, died of congestive heart failure Thursday at Northwest Hospital Center. The Randallstown resident was 87. Mr. Rand was born and raised in Atchison, Kan., and attended Emporia State University for two years, studying music and playing saxophone and clarinet. In 1938, he enlisted as a bandsman in the Marine Corps, and a year later was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

A 21-year-old Marine from Montgomery County has become the latest Marylander to die in the fighting in Iraq, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Cpl. Kirk J. Bosselmann of Dickerson died Saturday - one of four Marines killed by enemy action in a three-day period in Al Anbar province. All four Marines belonged to the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., the department said. Bosselmann was a graduate of Poolesville High School, according to the Rev. Merritt W. Ednie, pastor of Boyds Presbyterian Church, where the young Marine had been on a prayer list that included people serving in military and civilian roles in Iraq.

A 21-year-old Marine from Parkton, who married his high school sweetheart in August, was killed by a suicide car bomber in Iraq on Wednesday, the Department of Defense said yesterday. Lance Cpl. Norman W. Anderson III died when a suicide car bomb detonated near him as he carried out a military mission in Karabilah, west of Baghdad. Anderson, part of the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., had been in Iraq for only about a month. "They were conducting security operations to prevent insurgents from crossing the Syrian border and establishing strongholds in the cities of western Iraq," said Lt. Barry Edwards, a spokesman for the 2nd Marine Division.

AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq - More than 1,000 Marines and soldiers near the Syrian border completed a weeklong offensive yesterday, ending the coalition's biggest campaign since last year's bloody Fallujah battle in terms of insurgents reportedly killed, more than 115, and troops deployed. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, a top Iraqi Foreign Ministry official was apparently assassinated in a drive-by shooting while he stood outside his home, authorities said. Police said Jassim Mohammed Ghani, the ministry's director general, was killed late last night in western Baghdad.

A Marine from Laurel was killed Friday in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Saturday night. Lance Cpl. Eugene C. Mills III, 21, died in combat in Helmand province, the Pentagon said. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. Mills is the fifth service member from Maryland killed this year, and the fourth to die in Afghanistan. matthew.brown@baltsun.com Twitter.com/matthewhaybrown Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

A 19-year-old Waldorf man died Wednesday in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense said Friday. Terry E. Honeycutt Jr. suffered wounds during combat operations Oct. 21 in Helmand province in southwest Afghanistan. The lance corporal was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, N.C. A previous version of this article incorrectly stated when Terry E. Honeycutt Jr. died. The Sun regrets the error.

As of yesterday, at least 2,922 members of the U.S. military have died since March 2003. Identifications Sgt. Yevgeniy Ryndych, 24, Brooklyn, N.Y., died Wednesday in Ar Ramadi from an explosive; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo. Spc. Marco L. Miller, 36, Longwood, Fla., died Tuesday at Landstuhl Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries suffered Sunday from indirect enemy fire during an escort mission in Taji; assigned to the 3rd Battalion Support Company, 20th Special Forces Group, Camp Blanding, Fla. Spc. Jordan W. Hess, 26, Marysville, Wash.

WASHINGTON --The second-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq has concluded that some senior Marine officers were negligent in failing to investigate more aggressively the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians by Marines in Haditha in November, two Defense Department officials said yesterday. The officer, Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, concluded that senior officers failed to follow up on inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the initial reporting of the deaths - including those of 10 women and children and an elderly man in a wheelchair - that should have raised questions.

HUSAYBAH, Iraq -- Thousands of American and Iraqi troops laid siege yesterday to this town near the Syrian border in one of the largest military assaults since American-led forces stormed the guerrilla stronghold of Fallujah last year, Marine Corps officials said. The sweep, aimed at shutting down the flow of foreign fighters along the Euphrates River, began early yesterday as 2,500 American troops and 1,000 Iraqi soldiers, all led by the Marines, cordoned off roads around Husaybah before rolling into town in armored vehicles and marching in on foot.

A 21-year-old Marine from Parkton, who married his high school sweetheart in August, was killed by a suicide car bomber in Iraq on Wednesday, the Department of Defense said yesterday. Lance Cpl. Norman W. Anderson III died when a suicide car bomb detonated near him as he carried out a military mission in Karabilah, west of Baghdad. Anderson, part of the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., had been in Iraq for only about a month. "They were conducting security operations to prevent insurgents from crossing the Syrian border and establishing strongholds in the cities of western Iraq," said Lt. Barry Edwards, a spokesman for the 2nd Marine Division.