Not long ago, someone told David C. Gettings that "Americans have to realize that freedom is not free." The truth of that statement hit home when the Lawrence County man learned that his only son, Marine Cpl. Albert Pasquale Gettings, had been killed Thursday in Iraq. Gettings, 27, of New Castle, was one of two area soldiers killed in action this week. Family friends confirmed Friday that a Pennsylvania National Guardsman, Michael E. McLaughlin, 44, of Mercer, also died. A news conference is scheduled today at the National Guard's New Castle Armory. The elder Gettings said his son "was on patrol with others in Fallujah when they were attacked by small-arms fire. My son was wounded in the abdomen and subsequently died of his injuries." Albert Gettings didn't come from a military family but began to think about becoming a soldier after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He enlisted in April 2002 and eventually was assigned to a supplies and accounting job. "His mother (Juliet) and I, as parents, were happy because his job was essential and he wasn't going to be deployed," David Gettings said yesterday. "But my son absolutely hated it. He thought it was a job for civilians. He could have sat behind a desk and completed his four years but he didn't see it that way. He felt the job of a Marine was to protect people. A parent can't argue with a child when he is doing what he feels is right and doing it to the best of his ability. My son was a hero." Albert Gettings, who also has a sister, Cori, of Tampa, Fla., finally was allowed to transfer to Fox Company, an infantry unit in the Second Battalion, Sixth Marine Regiment. He spent 5 1/2 months in Afghanistan before returning to the states and marrying a childhood friend, Stephanie Palimino, on May 29, 2005. "He found the perfect mate," his father said. "I've never seen someone happier. Thank God they had the time together they did." David Gettings said his son was deployed in Iraq in September. "The Marines are an absolutely phenomenal group of men, the epitome of American tradition, American values and American spirit. My son was one of the few, the proud, the Marines."

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