LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Marine killed in Iraq was remembered Tuesday for standing by his high school class motto _ "Make it count."

Marine Sgt. David Neil Wimberg traveled extensively during his service with the Marines, boldly embracing challenge and new experiences. But he still made time for family, and at times would lose wrestling matches with his nieces and nephews.

Hundreds of family members, friends and Marines gathered to remember Wimberg, practically filling the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville.

Wimberg "gave without counting the cost," said St. Barnabus Church Pastor Father Wayne Jenkins, who delivered the homily.

Wimberg, a Louisville native, was shot in the armpit by insurgents during "door-to-door fighting" May 25 in northern Iraq, said Charles Zimmerman, a friend of Wimberg's family. Wimberg's unit was part of Operation Matador, which began this month and targeted insurgents near the Syrian border. The unit was hit hard and lost six Marines in one day, Zimmerman said.

"He was a genuine hero," Zimmerman said. "He took the bullet."

Wimberg's brother, Michael, said his brother was truly happy around family and friends and joined the Marines for what he could do for others.

"He was never looking for a fight, but he never backed down from one either," Michael Wimberg said.

Wimberg graduated from Trinity High School in 1999 and spent four years in the Marines, which included tours in Asia. In 2004, he returned home and joined a reserve unit in Columbus, Ohio. Wimberg was to return from Iraq in September at the end of a seven-month tour.

Wimberg is the 21st servicemember with a Kentucky hometown to die in the Iraq war, and the second from Louisville to die with a Marine unit within a month. Jeffrey L. Weiner, a Navy petty officer 3rd class serving with Marines, was killed in Iraq in early May.

In addition, more than 60 soldiers stationed at Fort Campbell, on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, died in the war. Most of them were with the 101st Airborne Division.

Following Wimberg's funeral, friends and family gathered around the casket as Wimberg was honored with a rifle salute and the playing of Taps at Zachary Taylor National Cemetery. A lone bagpiper playing Amazing Grace stood among lines of white headstones at the graveside service. Several onlookers were brought to tears.