Brett Witteveen

Private First Class, United States Marine Reserves

November 11, 1986 – February 19, 2007
Age – 20
Shelby, MI

Operation Iraqi Freedom
Marine Forces Reserve’s 1^st Battalion, 24^th Marine Regiment, 4^th Marine Regiment, 4^th Marine Division, Grand Rapids, MI

Killed by a roadside bomb while patrolling in Fallujah, Iraq

Pfc. Brett Witteveen of Shelby, Michigan graduated in 2005 from Hart High School where he played football and was a two-way standout end on Hart’s football team.

His family and friends described him as ‘free entertainment’ because he would do anything to make people laugh. He was a people person and was always smiling and he also loved to laugh.

Brett was a “happy-go-lucky” young man who knew early on that he wanted to join the military. The previous summer he had left the house for what his father thought was a trip to sign up for college. Instead, he came home and announced proudly that he had joined the Marines.

Brett had a stubborn streak and never turned down a dare, but he was a young man full of discipline and purpose and had planned on attending college to become a personal trainer once his tour with the Marine Corp was finished. It was quite fitting that Brett was born on Veterans Day. It was almost as though he was born to be a Marine.