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While Kandy Poole Johns was helping compile a slide show of her son, Jordan Chrobot, for his funeral on Sunday, she came across a picture of him saluting.

"He couldn't be more than 3 years old," Johns said.

Chrobot's devotion to the military from such a young age would become part of what people admired most about him.

"He died doing what he thought was right, and I'm proud of him," said his wife, Amber Chrobot of Walkersville. "He was a good Marine."

Lance Cpl. Chrobot, 24, was a rifleman of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, on his second tour of duty when was shot during combat with enemy forces in the Helmand province of Afghanistan on Sept. 26. He died during surgery about an hour and a half later, according to the Marines.

Master Sgt. Keith A. Milks, a Marine Corps spokesman, said the regiment arrived in Afghanistan in May, and "has been aggressively prosecuting a campaign against the Taliban and other anti-Afghan government elements in Southern Afghanistan."

According to the Marines, Chrobot earned several awards during his enlistment, including the Marine Corps Combat Action Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Chrobot was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart, Milks said.

Chrobot was inspired to enlist by his grandfather, Bunky Poole, who served with the Marines in Vietnam, Amber Chrobot said. He would have been home in December, when he planned to keep working with the Marines, she said.

Family life

Jordan Chrobot met then-Amber Bird when he was 12 and she was 11 through a mutual friend. "I fell head over heels in love with him," she said.

One day, when she was 19, Chrobot told her he loved her and "that was it."

When Chrobot asked Charles and Cynthia Bird of Walkersville for their daughter's hand in marriage, they couldn't have been happier. "We knew that there was nobody that could have her heart that we could trust more than him," Cynthia Bird said.

The couple was married in 2007 in a small ceremony in his grandparents' backyard in Frederick after a six-month engagement.

In October of that year, Chrobot was deployed to Iraq. Amber moved into Camp Lejeune, N.C., base housing in November. When his tour was over in May 2008, he spent about a year at home on the base. During that time, he painted walls, hung pictures and planted flowers in the yard.

"Anything that I needed, he would help me with," Amber Chrobot said.

In May, Jordan Chrobot was sent to Afghanistan. It was the last time Kandy Poole Johns spoke with her son.

"He was like, ‘Hey Mom, I love you. I'm going to see you soon. Don't worry, Mom, I'm going to see you soon.' Those were the last words," said Johns, who lives in Harrisonburg, Va. "I had fully expected to have him back home in December."

Amber Chrobot said the last time she and her husband spoke was on Sept. 25 for a 30-minute conversation. Usually, they had brief talks every once every two or three weeks.

"We talked about homecoming and starting a family," she said.

"I'm sure he would've made a wonderful dad," Johns said.

A hero remembered, celebrated

About 1,000 people attended a service Sunday at the Lynfield Event Complex in Frederick. Friends from Chrobot's high school and his military base in North Carolina spoke about his friendship.

Members of the Patriot Guard Riders and the Rolling Thunder riders joined the huge procession on their motorcycles on the way to the burial site at Resthaven Memorial Gardens.

At the site, Amber, Johns and Walter Chrobot, Jordan's father, received folded burial flags and Chrobot was honored with a three-volley salute and a bugle performance of "Taps."

"Amazing Grace" was played on bagpipes.

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), Maryland Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D) of Baltimore, state Sen. David Brinkley (R-Dist. 4) of New Market and Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett (R-Dist. 6) of Buckeystown all reached out to the family throughout the week.

O'Malley ordered flags to be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Sunday to honor the Marine.

In addition to his wife and parents, Chrobot is survived by stepfather Jerry Johns of Harrisonburg, Va.; stepmother Susan Chrobot of Baltimore; two sisters, Cassandra and Morgan Chrobot of Harrisonburg; a brother, Connor Johns of Harrisonburg; maternal grandparents, Bunky and Anita Poole of Frederick; and paternal grandmother, Margie Chrobot of Taylorsville. He was preceded in death by his paternal grandfather, Walter Lee Chrobot Sr.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Wounded Warrior Regiment, 3025 John Quick Road, MCB Quantico, VA., 22134, c/o Charitable Donations Coordinator.

E-mail Courtney Pomeroy at cpomeroy@gazette.net.