Number 89 - and Two Too Many

Two Kentucky Marines in one day.

25-year-old Adam Peak this morning, and now Lance Cpl. Matthias N. Hanson, 20, of Buffalo, Ky., a small town just outside Hodgenville, the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.

They both died Feb. 21 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. They were both assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Hanson moved to Kentucky from Michigan three years before graduating from high school, as the Greenville, MI, paper explains:

When Lance Cpl. Matthias Hanson joined the Marines in 2007, he was following a long family history of military service.

His father had served in the Gulf War, his stepfather in Vietnam. His brother currently is serving in the Army. And the family has relatives who served in both World Wars.

But on Sunday, Hanson, a 20-year-old who formerly attended Greenville High School, became the first member of his family to be killed in combat when he was shot in Afghanistan, according to his uncle, Max Watts of Greenville.

Hanson joined the Marines out of high school, thinking, "'OK, I'm going to show them. I'm going to be a Marine. I'm going to do them all better,'" Watts recalled. "He wanted to be the best. He wanted to show everybody he could be the best."

In 2005, Hanson moved to Hodgenville, Ky., where he graduated from Larue County High School in 2008. His mother, Mary Huff, father, Lowell Hanson II, and sister, Megan Dohn, all live in Kentucky. His brother, Lowell Hanson III, who is stationed in Germany, is flying back for the funeral, which will be held in Kentucky.

Hanson also has a handful of other relatives in West Michigan and Kentucky.

"He was just the most cheerful kid that you'd ever seen," said his aunt, Jennifer Harding of Greenville. "He was always a big part of the family."

Two Kentucky marines in one day. To accomplish nothing in a worthless wasteland where everybody hates us. It's a crime.