MARYSVILLE, PA, USA U.S. Army PFC, TROOP F,1ST CAVALRY REGIMENT, 1ST BRIGADE, 1ST ARMORED DIVISION, GERMANY AR RAMADI, IRAQ 12/29/2006
Private First Class David E. Dietrich of Marysville, Pennsylvania had lived in several foster homes between the ages of 14 and 18, and had previously lived with his grandparents after his parents abandoned him at age 10.
For a few weeks at a time, he occasionally lived with friends and classmates and through all this he never missed a day of school. David graduated from Susquenita High School in 2004. He was in the Boy Scouts until age 18 and achieved the rank of Life Scout, with Craig Raisner as one of his scoutmasters.
David played on the school football team and became an active member of the Marysville Fire Company at age 14. He also regularly attended the Church of God in Marysville.
After graduating, he attended Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster to learn collision repair.
He had enlisted in the Army less than seven months before and had been in Iraq for less than two months. David wanted to be a Marine. His grandfather had been one. But David failed the aptitude test.
He then contacted an Army recruiter and said he wanted to serve as a base fireman, having been a volunteer in Marysville’s fire department. Somehow, at the Army’s enlistment office, Dietrich managed to pass the same standardized military-recruitment test he’d failed in the Marine office. When he showed up to sign his contract, he was offered a $19,000 bonus to be a scout and to ship out within weeks.
State Route 850 Throughout Marysville Borough, Perry County, was designated as the Private David E, Dietrich Memorial Highway. He died at age 21 of wounds sustained when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire while on combat patrol in Ramadi, Iraq.
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