Thomas P. Echols
Lance Corporal, United States Marine Corps Reserve
January 2, 1986 – December 4, 2006
Age – 20
Sault Ste Marie, MI
Operation Iraqi Freedom
1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Camp Lejeune, NC
Died while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq
When Tom Echols was born in 1986 in St. Clair, his father, Kurt Echols, was serving aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Bramble. The family later moved to North Carolina for two years, then returned to St. Clair for another three years on the Bramble. They were transferred to St. Ignace in the 1990s for three years.
Thomas P. Echols’ grandfather, Don Wight, said his grandson once saved money for weeks to buy tickets for a University of Michigan football game. Even after leaving Michigan, Echols remained devoted to the Wolverines. “I’m an MSU grad, he’s a dyed-in-the-wool University of Michigan fan. Anything he could find that was U of M memorabilia, he had it,” said Wight. “He was just a good, fun-loving young man.”
He was a 2004 high school graduate and was assigned to Camp Lejeune. Echols ran track and played junior varsity football in high school. He also was a part of the school’s Army Junior ROTC and drill team. Kurt Echols remembered his son talking about a career in the armed services as early as junior high school. Echols drove Humvee during his first tour. Most recently, he was serving as an infantryman.
He was graduated from Riverview High School in Shepherdsville April 16, 2004.
Karen Young of Riverview was his English and social studies teacher.
“Tom was a great guy,” she said, “motivated and goal minded. From the first day I met him, he said he was going to be a Marine. I guess it was a lifelong goal. He loved our county and believed in freedom.”
In his senior writing portfolio, Mr. Echols wrote about his decision to join the Marines over other branches of military service, and he lived that goal, she said. He was also involved in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at a nearby school, prior to transferring to Riverview.
One of Mr. Echols’ high school projects was to frame a picture of himself. At the bottom of the frame he inscribed the words, “Man of Steel.”
“I took this as, ‘I’m a strong person,’” Mrs. Young said.
Superman was one of his favorite cartoon characters, she added.
“I think that’s because [Superman] represented doing good,” Mrs. Young said.