A 19-year U.S. Marine who grew up in Vicksburg died in Iraq Monday. He was described by friends and family as dedicated to the Marines and his mission.

Master Sgt. Brian P. McAnulty was aboard a CH-53 that crashed just after takeoff in Anbar Province, the U.S. Department of Defense said Wednesday afternoon.

The crash was under investigation, but was not due to hostile action, the Defense Department said. Three other Marines were also killed in Anbar the same day by improvised explosive devices.

Total U.S. deaths in Iraq are at 2,937 with 39 from Mississippi. Previous fatalities have been from Utica, Port Gibson and Hollandale. McAnulty was the first from Vicksburg to die in the war that started in March 2003.

He was a 1985 graduate of Warren Central High School, where he was a soccer standout.

Two days before Christmas of the year of his graduation, McAnulty was a passenger in a car wreck in which a good friend and fellow soccer player, Dennis Mlakar, was killed.

Dennis Mlakar’s father, Dr. Paul Mlakar of Vicksburg, was among those saying he had kept up with McAnulty and admired his dedication.

Mlakar, a veteran of the U.S. Army and a top research scientist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said he and Bob McAnulty, Brian’s father, had seen many young men &#8220find themselves” through military service.

&#8220But neither of us had seen anyone find themselves so quickly as Brian had,” Mlakar said. &#8220By the end of basic training, I mean, he was there. That was his life.”

McAnulty’s parents, Bob and Fran McAnulty, lived in Vicksburg from the mid- to late-1970s. Bob McAnulty, a retired U.S. Navy chief petty officer, worked in the construction of the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Claiborne County and stayed to help operate it, Mlakar said.

The McAnultys and the Mlakars were among the parents who helped lay the foundation for Vicksburg’s youth-soccer program, said Brian McAnulty’s soccer coach for four years at WCHS, Lucy Young. Bob McAnulty officiated soccer games for the then-young Vicksburg Soccer Organization, and Brian McAnulty’s class of players spent many Saturdays traveling and playing games together, Young said.

&#8220Brian was a dedicated player,” Young said. &#8220He was quiet. They were a real close-knit group.”

Brian McAnulty played on the WCHS team for four years, playing a mainly defensive position. During those years the team lost just five games and had two perfect seasons, one 10-0 and the other, in McAnulty’s senior year, 13-0.

After graduating from WCHS, McAnulty attended Hinds Community College for three semesters before enlisting, Mlakar said.

&#8220I kept up with him through his parents,” said Young, who described McAnulty as &#8220a good student” and &#8220a scholar-athlete.” &#8220I know he believed in what he was doing,” she said. &#8220He was a young man with a bright future in front of him.”

As a Marine, McAnulty, about a year short of retirement eligibility, had been posted to U.S. embassies in Paraguay; Seoul, South Korea; Budapest, Hungary; Bujumbura, Burundi; and, most recently, Bogota, Colombia, said his brother, Brett McAnulty. From about late 2003 until 2005, McAnulty had taught at the USMC’s security-guard school in Quantico, Va.

After Bob McAnulty retired from Grand Gulf about 10 years ago, he and his wife became frequent travelers in their motor home, settling near Brett and his family in Kernersville, N.C., where, today, services for Brian were being planned at Pierce-Jefferson Funeral Home.

In addition to his parents and brother, McAnulty is survived by his sister-in-law, Stacy; and their two daughters, Cora and Lily.

Earlier this year, McAnulty had been assigned to the USMC base at Twentynine Palms, Calif., from which he was deployed to Iraq in August or early September as a member of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force.

He also had served a combat deployment during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and served as a security guard aboard the aircraft carrier the USS John F. Kennedy. Other postings included to Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Japan.

&#8220He loved what he was doing,” Brett McAnulty said of his brother. &#8220He wouldn’t have rather been anywhere else.”

Mlakar said he visited McAnulty at McAnulty’s posting in Hungary in 1996, while Mlakar was on a Corps special assignment.

&#8220He was proud to be serving his country, as I’m sure he was to the end,” Mlakar said. &#8220Brian was the type of leader that any parent would want to have leading their son or daughter into harm’s way.”

Anbar province encompasses much of west-central Iraq, from near Baghdad to the country’s borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The province includes the Euphrates River cities of Hadithah, Ramadi and Fallujah.

They called him ‘Top’.

In an e-mail message to Brian McAnulty’s brother, a fellow noncommissioned officer in Iraq and his roommate for the three months before he died says Brian McAnulty was known to all as simply &#8220Top.”

&#8220Top had an infectious personality and was loved by all,” the Marine wrote. &#8220If there was a group of Marines gathering on the LZ, it was because Top was entertaining. He would tell stories and jokes. He smiled and laughed. When he was &#8220on,” everyone wanted to be in on the action.

&#8220He was the most passionate Marine I have ever been in contact with. He was emotional to a fault. He loved Marines and would do anything for HIS Marines. He always sacrificed his own comfort to provide for others. He was kind, unselfish, honest and brave. The one quality which I treasured most was his loyalty.”