NORTH ADAMS, MI, USA U.S. Marines SGT, E CO, 2D BN, 2D MAR, RCT-8, 2D MAR DIV, CAMP LEJEUNE, NC NASSAR WA SALEM, IRAQ 10/30/2005
A U.S. Marine from Hillsdale County who was serving in Iraq died Sunday near Fallujah, a family spokesman said. Sergeant Michael Paul Hodshire, 25, of North Adams was killed by indirect gunfire.
Hodshire long dreamed of joining the Marine Corps, and he entered basic training four days after graduating from North Adams-Jerome High School in 1999.
“That’s been a passion of his from his school days. He wanted to be a Marine,” Kenneth Kurtz of the funeral home said.
Hodshire was deployed in Iraq from October 2003 through June 2004, then redeployed in July 2005. He served as second squad leader for 3rd Platoon, Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
“We’re a small, rural community here,” Kurtz said. “You can say this about so many kids, but he had a lot of friends here. He was very popular.”
High school Principal Carl Christenson said Sunday that the 550-student district would be devastated by the news. He said he met Hodshire last summer during a Little League baseball game. His 11-year-old son and Hodshire’s younger brother play on the same team, he said.
“It’s a small district,” Christenson told the Detroit Free Press. “Obviously, it will have an impact.”
Kurtz said family members recalled Hodshire saying, “We are there for all the right reasons,” before leaving for his second deployment. Hodshire also had served on the Silent Drill Team and Color Guard in Washington, D.C.
He is survived by two children, his parents, one brother, three sisters and grandparents.
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