Cpl. Chad Powell

Family and friends pay tribute to fallen Marine

Support for all of our troops in Iraq is one of the messages delivered at today's memorial for one local marine.

Family and friends paid tribute to Corporal Chad Powell.

He was one of several Camp Lejune Marines killed in a suicide bomb attack in Fallujah early Friday.

Those close to him say he was a man devoted to his family, his faith and the Marine Corps.

They remember their fallen hero as a man of honor, courage and commitment.

"Not only to himself, his family, and his God, but to his country," says Gunnery Sgt. Clinton Parks.

"He was just so full of life.  He just had the best personality, he really did," says family friend Heidi Whitney.

"He was the caliber of Marine that I could depend on for anything, for anything," says Master Sgt. John Cordeiro.

"That's just the type of person Chad was, and you could always depend on him to watch out for you," says best friend Raymond Downs.

For Corporal Raymond Downs, Chad Powell was more than a brother in arms.

"We were an inseparable bond and that was the reason it was so good when Chad was stationed here (at Camp Lejune), was that we were close.  There was a little bit of that piece of home and that brotherhood," says Downs.

A brotherhood that began more than a decade ago, one they were planning to strengthen when Powell returned from Iraq.

"We planned on hunting and fishing together and growing old together," says Downs.  "I'll do the same, it will just be with his son."

"That's what we're going to do for Chad now, make sure Elijah knows how good of a man his dad was."

Keeping Powell's legacy and spirit alive, in their hearts, forever.

This was Powell's third deployment.  He served in Afghanistan and Haiti as well.

Once Powell's body returns from Iraq, a funeral will be held for him in his hometown of West Monroe, Louisiana.