LOCKPORT, LA, USA
U.S. Marines
SSGT, C CO, 1ST BN, 9TH MAR, ( RCT-1, I MEF FWD), 2D MAR DIV, CAMP LEJEUNE, NC
BALAD, IRAQ 07/15/2008
“He was the glue that kept his squad together,” said a fellow Marine deployed in New Orleans who knew Dupre during his 10-year career and who was in charge of escorting the fallen fighter’s remains in Louisiana. “Gaining intel to provide to his Marines was what got him killed.” He died on July 15, 2008 in Anbar Province while serving in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Dupre grew up in Lockport, raised by his grandmother, Hilda Triche Dupre, who said, “He always loved the Marines.” While a student at Central Lafourche High School, he knew early on that he was headed for a military career. He was an active member of the school’s Junior ROTC and joined up immediately after graduation.
“He was a perfectionist,” said Kenneth Dupre, the Marine’s “parrain,” or godfather. In drill competitions while performing the manual of arms, if there was a potential of a tied score, he would perform the drill routine blindfolded, Kenneth Dupre said.
He knew right away he was going to be infantry. Danny’s first assignment was the Marine Corps’ elite silent-drill platoon. He worked his way up through the ranks. He did what he wanted to do, and that’s how he lived his life. He wasn’t afraid of anything and he loved serving his country. He served four overseas deployments in Iraq as well as Afghanistan. This bayou boy raised into a military man and a leader of Marines will be missed by many who remembered him from high-school years at Central Lafourche, where he was a spit-and-polish member of the Junior ROTC’s drill team.
His wife, Crystal, lives in Jacksonville, Fla., with their 3-year-old son, Daniel Dupre. The Marine’s own mother, Joycelyn Dupre, died at the age of 28 when he was very young, which is the reason, his grandmother said, that she raised him.