The body of an Alaska Marine killed in Afghanistan was returned to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Tuesday morning.
Gunnery Sgt. Christopher L. Eastman, 28, was killed in a bomb explosion Sunday, according to the U.S. Marine Corps.
Eastman, of Moose Pass, was based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., and was with the 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, said Major Lee Johnson, a Marine spokesman.
Eastman was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician and was killed while working on a bomb site in Now Zad, Afghanistan, a community in the northern Helmand Province, Johnson said.
It appeared the bomb may have been detonated by insurgents while Eastman was working at the site, he said. It wasn't immediately known if others were killed or injured in the blast.
According to their MySpace pages, Eastman lived in Murrieta, Calif., with his wife, Gaby Eastman, who is seven months pregnant, and daughter Joy. He graduated from Seward High School in 2000 and deployed to Afghanistan late last winter.
Funeral arrangements had not been announced Tuesday.
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By JAMES HALPIN
jhalpin@adn.com