U.S. Marine Corporal Derek Wyatt was killed in Afghanistan just before his wife gave birth to a son.
This request to honor the memory of a fallen U.S. Marine is correct in most of its brief particulars. U.S. Marine Corporal Derek A. Wyatt, of Akron, Ohio, a member of the U.S. 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine ('Darkhorse') Regiment, was killed in action in Afghanistan on 6 December 2010. News accounts from his home state reported that Cpl. Wyatt's wife Kait learned the tragic news of his loss just before giving birth to their son:[Derek] Wyatt was killed in action [Dec. 6] while serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan. It was his first combat mission after re-enlisting. Wyatt was killed the day before his wife was expecting to deliver their first child. Relatives say the baby, a boy named Michael, was delivered [on the night of Dec. 7]. '[His wife] found out the news the day before they expected to have their baby,' said his uncle. 'With Christmas coming up, I just want to make sure she gets the message that everybody cares about her, that we are there for her also, too, even though she is far away.' 'The boy's name is Michael, they have named him already and he will be loved and hopefully he will see this and know that Dad loved him,' said Wyatt.(Although the Facebook appeal reproduced above states that Wyatt's newborn son was 'named in his honor,' news accounts indicate that the couple had picked out the names Michael Everett for their child, matching neither the first nor middle name of his late father. Also, some news accounts refer to Derek Wyatt as a sergeant rather than a corporal.)An 'R.I.P. Derek Wyatt' page dedicated to Corporal Wyatt's memory has been established on Facebook.
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