A 21-year-old Marine and former high-school star athlete from Long Island has been killed in Iraq.
The shattered parents of Cpl. Christopher Scherer last night gathered with relatives at the family’s Northport home to grieve for the young man killed in combat in the treacherous Anbar province Saturday.
“It’s just heartbreaking,” said Irene McLaughlin, principal of Northport HS, where Scherer played stand-out lacrosse before graduating in 2004. “He was the first boy from our community who lost his life in the war.
“We were looking at his graduation picture today, and saying, ‘Geez, he looks so thin. He looks like a little boy,’ ” she said.
Scherer was an Eagle Scout, always helping younger kids at school. But he knew exactly where he was headed – the military – after graduation, relatives said.
“That’s what he wanted to do, be a Marine,” said Scherer’s grief-stricken cousin, Travis Burr. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of him . . . At least he went out with honor.
“Chris was a great guy,” Burr added. “He was a guy who would always light up a room. He would always pack 48 hours of fun into a 24-hour day.”
On a myspace.com page that appeared to be his, an Iraqi buddy included the slogan: “Live every day as if it were your last.”