Marine told dad the scary details, kept them from mom

Marine Lance Cpl. Nick Larson had two channels home for his written words during his deployment last year.

There were the e- mails to his mother, Anne Larson, that went out every few days with the salutation: “ Hey mom.”

They were cheerier than the more graphic version of life Nick spelled out in longhand in letters to his Navy veteran dad, Dave Larson. The 19- year-old Marine, who had graduated from Wheaton North High School in Wheaton, Ill, just the year before, could gripe to his father about some annoying team leader who was getting out of line.

“ I don’t know why either,” Nick wrote his father on Oct. 6, 2004. “ I mean we all know our ( jobs) and are good at carrying out whatever we are told to do. I’m glad I can write this to you, knowing that you knowwhat I’m talking about.”

Alternating between guard duty at Abu Ghraib prison and street patrols, Nick would offer his mother one description of events: “Not much goin’ on. Went on a couple patrols today. Didn’t see much.”

Dad would get a slightly different one: “ We have to smile and wave to all the kids and people, but at the same time keep our > nger on the trigger and ourweapons pointed at them ready to kill them if they try anything.”

For mom: “ Got some rocks thrown at us. I usually throw ’ em back. Haha. It’s funny.”

For dad: “ One time I had a kid about 15 years old pull a knife on me while I was guarding the Hum- vee. I pulled my K- Bar ( Marine knife) out and he ran away. I was hoping he would try to come after me. Stuff like that happens a lot.”

Both parents got a taste of a young Marine’s excitement preparing for combat. “ Now I carry an M- 16 ( ri C e) and I carry a 12 gauge shotgun slung to my back during patrols so I can breach the doors, then go in and clear them. I don’t mind that cuz now I’ll get to clear houses more,” Larson wrote his mother on July 4, 2004.

He told her a month later about rumors that his unit, Lima Company with the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment, might be moving up to take part in an assault on Fallujah, an insurgent stronghold. “ I kinda hope we do. I’m getting tired of patrolin’ the same places.”

He wrote his father in October: “ There is talk about our company going to Fallujah within the next weeks. So if you hear anything on the news of Fallujah, that’s gonna be us.”

On Oct. 27, Anne Larson received an e- mail. Larson told his mother that Lima Company was on the move. He received a promotion to lance corporal a few days later.

The Marine assault on Fallujah did make news. It began Nov. 8 and lasted 17 days, claiming 71 American lives. It contributed to making November the bloodiest month of the war: 137 U.S. troops were lost. On Nov. 9, as Marines cleared a Fallujah school, the > rst two entering the building were ambushed by > ve insurgents inside and killed. Larson was the second Marine. Killed in Fallujah assault: Marine Lance Cpl. Nick Larson, 19, with sister Katie and parents Anne and Dave in June 2004, before deploying.

Family photo