A Westmoreland County native serving in the Marines was killed Friday in an attack in Afghanistan.
Lt. Col. Christopher Raible, of Irwin, was one of two service members killed when fifteen insurgents stormed an airfield in Kandahar province.
Raible, 40, graduated from Norwin High School and earned a degree in civil engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1995.
"When the Korean War broke out in '51, I enlisted, and I just love being a Marine. I'm proud of being a Marine, and I'm sure he was as well," said former teacher Don Kattic.
Raible, who was married with three children, was assigned to the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Ariz.
"I'm proud to have him as my brother, and I know he's in heaven looking down at us at this moment," said Kattic.
The Norwin School Board planned to honor Raible with a moment of silence during a meeting Monday night.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the strike that killed Raible and Sgt. Bradley Atwell, saying it was staged to avenge an anti-Islamic film that insulted the Prophet Muhammad and also because Britain's Prince Harry is serving at the base, the military disclosed Sunday.
Fourteen of the fifteen well armed attackers were killed and one was captured after they penetrated the perimeter of Camp Bastion and made it onto the flight line, the military said.
The attackers destroyed six Harrier jump jets assigned to Yuma's Marine Attack Squadron 211 and heavily damaged two others. The British air base is next to the Marines' Camp Leatherneck in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province.
A statement issued by the US led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said the insurgents were wearing U.S. Army uniforms and armed with automatic rifles, rocket propelled grenade launchers and suicide vests.
The ISAF statement said the insurgents were in three teams and appeared to be well-equipped, trained and rehearsed. They attacked helicopters and fixed wing aircraft on the flight line along with aircraft hangars and other buildings.
The insurgents also destroyed three refueling stations and damaged six hangars.
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