Since at least ninth grade, Brian McGinnis dreamed of serving in the military, so shortly after high school he enlisted in the Marines.

As a handmade sign outside his father's Woodbury Heights home read this week, the sergeant now has made "the ultimate sacrifice" for his country.

McGinnis, who grew up in St. Georges, Del., was one of three Marines killed Sunday when their UH-1 Huey helicopter crashed at a refueling station in southern Iraq. The cause of the crash is unknown, but military officials have said the helicopter was not shot down.

The 23-year-old's family has asked for privacy as news of the death has swept through Woodbury Heights, a small Gloucester County community where his father, William, has been a volunteer firefighter for nearly 25 years.

A sign outside his father's home displayed a picture of McGinnis in his Marine uniform with the words, "In loving memory of Sgt. Brian McGinnis, who made the ultimate sacrifice."

McGinnis attended Caravel Academy in Bear, Del., for the first two years of high school. After learning of McGinnis' death, his former guidance counselor, George Glynn, pulled the student's file. In it, McGinnis said he planned to attend the Naval Academy and become a pilot.

"I thought, 'How prophetic,' " Glynn said. "You look at his picture in the yearbook, and we have the tendency to think of them as 14-, 15-year-olds. We have to remember that he's 23 and off to war."

Glynn said McGinnis, a wrestler and soccer player, had left the small private school for William Penn High School in New Castle, Del. William Penn, from which McGinnis graduated, has one of Delaware's best wrestling programs.

McGinnis made coach Jake Holloway's varsity wrestling squad and, as a senior, finished fifth in the state tournament.

"To accomplish what he did his senior year was a real tribute to his work ethic," Holloway told the Associated Press. He said he had tried to persuade McGinnis to attend college.

"He said the Marines were the best, and that's what he wanted to be a part of," Holloway said. "He welcomed the challenge."

McGinnis also met his future wife, Megan Mahoney, at William Penn. The couple married in 1999 and lived in California, where McGinnis was stationed at Camp Pendleton.

McGinnis' mother, Mildred Williams, now lives in Port Charlotte, Fla. Calls to her home went unanswered yesterday.