Caleb Powers, who overcame severe emotional problems as a boy to attain his dream of becoming a Marine, and then died in Iraq last month at age 21, will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery at 10 a.m. on Oct. 14.

"That's the place for heroes fallen on the battlefield," said John Bacon of Los Angeles, a lifelong friend who commanded a Young Marines unit based at Quantico that Powers joined at age 10.

Lance Cpl. Powers, the son of Tracy Powers of North Stafford, was only two weeks from being sent home when he was killed by a sniper while on guard duty in Ramadi, Iraq, about 40 miles from Fallujah, on Aug. 17.

It was a week of unimaginable agony for the Powers family.

The next day, the man who was to become Caleb Powers' brother-in-law, Marine Sgt. Rick Lord of Florida, was killed in action in Anbar province, Iraq. The 24-year-old Lord and Caleb's sister Rosie planned to marry upon his return from Iraq. Rosie Powers, also a Marine, lives in Manassas.

Caleb Powers' uplifting and tragic story of heroic perseverance, then death at the hands of an unseen enemy has attracted the attention of national media including CNN and USA Today.

A funeral was held for Powers on Aug. 27 in Mansfield, Wash., a tiny farming community with a population of just 350. But more than 200 people attended the service at Mansfield High School, where Powers played football.

His mother said she was overwhelmed that little Mansfield closed all its shops and its grocery store for the funeral.

As a boy, Powers spent three years at Childhelp in Culpeper County because of behavioral problems. There, he was inspired by Bacon and the idea of becoming a Marine that turned his life around. At Childhelp, he was befriended by Navy Adm. William Owens, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who became his mentor.

To reach MICHAEL ZITZ: 540/374-5408 mikez@freelancestar.com