July 7, 2004 -- Audra Schroeder KFOX News at Nine Weekend Anchor/Reporter

A Cathedral High School graduate died Monday during combat in Iraq.

21 year old Lance Cpl. Michael Torres was a marine with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment. He deployed to Iraq in February as a machine gunner.

Torres and two other marines died July 5 as a result of enemy action in the Al Anbar Province.

Michael visited Cathedral High School just days before he deployed in February.

"The first thing I told him is you better come back. You make sure you come back and see us. So when I got the word it was quite a shock. It's a shame," said his football coach David Portillo.

"Michael embodied the spirit of Cathedral, of this community and of this nation in the way he served all of us," said Michael's former Principal Sam Govea.

Torres' father who lives in New York is flying to Washington to accompany his son's body back home to El Paso. The funeral is set for Monday at Fort Bliss' National Cemetery.