Serving in Iraq information & news page 36

Rutherford Marine dies in Iraq
Megan Ward
Star Staff Writer

FOREST CITY — Gail Ebert answered a knock at his door Friday to find two Marines on his doorstep.

“As soon as you see them, you know,” he said.

The Marines told Ebert that one of his twin sons, both stationed in Iraq, Cpl. Christopher Ebert, 21, was killed due in enemy action in Al Anbar Province. Christopher’s brother is Lance Cpl. Brian Ebert.

“All I know is there was some type of explosion,” Ebert said.

He said the family is waiting on a full report of his son’s death, which could take months, he said.

The Marine Corps public affairs office refused to give any details of his death to the public.

“You want to know what exactly happened,” he said. “It makes it harder.”

In his last e-mail to his father just before his death, Christopher said he had six days left of active duty in Iraq and was due back at Camp Pendleton, Calif., by early next month.

Christopher loved being a Marine, his father said, and was planning to re-enlist for four more years when his time ran out in next spring.

“He was striving to be sergeant,” Ebert said. “He was really working hard to get there. I believe he would have made it.”

A week after they graduated from Chase High School, Christopher and his twin brother, Brian, went together to Parris Island for boot camp.

“Their bunks were side by side,” Ebert said. “They were really close.”

Having his two sons fighting in the war made the family proud, he said. “You feel doubly proud but also doubly concerned. Mom was always more worried than Dad.”

“He’s (Brian) is doing fairly well, but how well could you really do losing your twin brother?”

The brothers were both sent to Iraq last spring. At one time, both were stationed on opposite sides of Fallujah, but they never crossed paths.

The brothers were fraternal twins, and although they were close, they were also very different. While Brian was outgoing, Christopher was shyer as a kid.

“He was always a little quiet,” Ebert said. “As he got older, he came out of that shell some, lost his shyness. But he was always fun to be around, sweet personality and great sense of humor.”

Christopher was engaged to a young woman he met in Maryland before he was sent to Iraq. They hadn’t set a date yet, but he had bought the ring.

Christopher brought his fiancée home to meet his parents last Christmas.

“He told me, ‘Yes, Dad, I really love her,’” Ebert recalled.

Christopher loved to go camping and fishing. He was stationed near a lake in Fallujah and wrote his dad asking for a fishing pole. Ebert sent his pole, tackle, along with Slim Jims, and Gatorade.

“I don’t know if he ever got to fish or not,” Ebert said.

Brian returned home this weekend on emergency leave. Christopher’s body will arrive in Dover, Del., today. Ebert said the family is planning a ceremony in Rutherford County.

Friends and neighbors have poured into Ebert’s house, as well as the home of his ex-wife, Shirley Ebert, also of Forest City. The couple divorced soon after their sons were shipped out to Iraq.

Mrs. Ebert could not be reached for this report.

Ebert said his neighbors along Rambling Road saw the Marines pull into his driveway. He said when they found out what happened many got their shovels and started repairing the dirt road they shared to make it easier for family to visit Ebert. Rains damaged rambling Road early this summer and Hurricane Frances nearly wiped out the road.

“They were out here with the shovels getting the roughest areas patched up,” Ebert said. “The outpouring of support has been overwhelming. It helps.”