Spc. Robert R. McRill

By Douglas Carman of Highlands Today Published: July 10, 2007 LAKE PLACID — Robert McRill's name echoed through barber shops, restaurants and homes around town, even though his memory was faint. Petty Officer 1st Class McRill, who was killed Friday with two other Navy sailors by a roadside bomb in Iraq, became the first man from Highlands County to die in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Even if residents didn't know him, in McRill's hometown, his death struck home. Wilmer "Wimpy" Mathews, a retired member of the Army's 45th Infantry Division who was wounded in the Korean War, said he had mixed feelings about McRill's death. "A loss of life in a situation like this is bad at best," the veteran said as he sat in his golf cart near his home in Highlands Park Estates. At the same time, he said, "we're in a Catch 22 sort of situation" in this war. Kerry Abel, who heard about McRill through the grapevine at Tony's Barber Shop, shared a similiar view. "It hits home to you," the barber said. At Lake Placid High School, the staff was already reeling from last week's death of Keith Brian Williams, another Lake Placid alumnus who was near McRill's age. "I was sad because it was a Lake Placid kid," said Joyce Moretz, the school's administrative secretary. An Easygoing Man McRill's classmates said he was an easygoing man who "minded his p's and q's," as former classmate Perry Mason described him. "He was a really neat guy, good natured, always had a smile on his face," said Tim Garman, who was the senior class president at Lake Placid High School in 1983. He added that he honored McRill's sacrifice for his country. McRill went to Lake Placid High School, graduating in 1983. According to a press release supplied by the Navy, McRill enlisted in 1991 and trained at several bases before serving aboard the USS. Theodore Roosevelt in 1996 out of Norfolk, Va. In 2002, he transferred to another carrier, the USS. Dwight Eisenhower. In February 2004, he was assigned to the Naval Expeditionary Combat Command Detachment, where he became a military photographer and media specialist. He joined Naval Special Warfare Group Two in April. During the course of his service, McRill earned several awards, including a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, given to service members for "heroism, outstanding achievement or meritorious service." Lt. David Luckett, a spokesman of the Virginia Beach-based unit, described him as a "mentor" to his fellow sailors and found the same glowing personality in him that his classmates saw in his formulative years. "On a daily basis his positive attitude and can-do-spirit were contagious and made it a better place to come to work everyday," Luckett said. "He was incredibly committed to his family. He was incredibly committed to shipmates." He leaves behind a wife and three children living in Yorktown, Va. Highlands Today reporter Bill Rettew also contributed to this report.