Lance Cpl. Dean D. Opicka, 29, of Waukesha, Wisconsin, was a Casco native and graduate of Luxemburg-Casco High School, where he played quarterback on the football team and point guard in basketball. He graduated from Carroll College in 2002 with a double major in psychology and history, also playing baseball and performing in school musicals. He later returned to Carroll to complete his teaching certification in 2005 and taught at a Milwaukee-area charter school, working with agencies that assist people with disabilities. He was assigned to the Marine Forces Reserve's 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, based in Milwaukee. On April 14, 2008, during Fox Company's second tour in Iraq, he was killed by a roadside bomb in Anbar province, alongside Cpl. Richard J. Nelson. He was engaged to be married to Katy Bonkoski in June 2009.
""The most organized packrat — ever," his brother Darren remembered. "So meticulous that he sent himself letters from Iraq with receipts in them and he kept these organized forever." He was a three-sport athlete whose baseball records still stand, a senior class representative with a 3.8 GPA, and — in the words of his former principal — "just a likable kid." He was engaged to be married the following June."
"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old."
— Laurence Binyon