In Memoriam

A northwest Iowa Marine known among members of his tight-knit community for faith, athleticism and patriotism was killed Monday after he was struck by a bomb while on foot patrol in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.

Lance Cpl. William “B Jay” Leusink, 21, of Maurice died an hour after after the device struck him while he was conducting a patrol in Haqlaniyah, according to a press release from Memorial Funeral Home of Sioux Center. Leusink was treated on the scene and evacuated to a nearby hospital where he died.

Also killed in the attack was Sgt. David Christoff, 25, of Rossford, Ohio. The Marines were assigned to 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Leusink and his wife Miranda, originally of Chaska, Minn., lived in Honolulu where he was stationed prior to his deployment.

The son of William and Elaine Leusink of Maurice, he also leaves behind three siblings. His mother, Elaine, declined to comment.

Prior to his tour in Iraq, Leusink had also served in Afghanistan, said Pastor Wayne Sneller of the First Reformed Church of Maurice, who knew Leusink, since he was 7 years old. Sneller described Leusink, a 2003 graduate of Sioux Center High School, as a young man of faith who always wanted to be a Marine, but whose choice was reaffirmed on Sept. 11, 2001.

“He loved his country, and 9/11 made an impact on him. From that point on, he decided he wanted to do something for his country, and he did it with his very best effort,” Sneller said.

Sneller described Leusink as a typical farm boy who exemplified Iowa with his good character and love for cars and sports, but said he also had a thoughtful, quiet side. The pastor remembers him agonizing whether to wear his hat with his dress uniform just before his wedding in October 2004.

He didn’t agonize over his faith, Sneller said. Playing in football games for Sioux Center High School, he played with the his favorite bible verse—Philippians 4:13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me—taped to his uniform.

No doubt, he took the verse to the battlefield, Sneller said, recalling an e-mail Leusink sent from Afghanistan amid dangerous fire fights.

“I remember B. Jay wrote me, he said 'I’m here for a purpose. I’m willing to give my life for my country, and if it has to be, that’s God’s plan for me.’”

Now the people of the town of 257 who prays for several local soldiers and Marines in church each Sunday is struggling to deal with what has struck so close to home.

“We’re in shock, but we’re resolute,” Sneller said. “We talk about freedom, and B. Jay literally gave his life fore it. There are a lot of young men and women in the service here, and this particular thing became very personal now. Before, we always knew it when we saw it on the news, but to be honest you say 'I never thought it would happen here.’ You expect to bring them home safe, but it wasn’t to be, it wasn’t God’s plan.”

Leusink is the forty-first Iowan to die in Iraq or Afghanistan from combat, illness or accident since the war began in March 2003.

Iowa Marine killed near Baghdad