Local Marine killed told friends he was worried about deployment

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4504 or at Ed.Richter@coxinc.com.

A Butler County Marine killed in Afghanistan told his close friend during a visit a few months ago, “I just don’t feel too good about this one.”

Sgt. John Patrick “J.P.” Huling, 25, was shot in the chest Sunday while on a foot patrol in the Anwar Province, according to his mother Deborah Huling of West Chester Twp. The U.S. Department of Defense announced Monday his death was reported as the result of gunshot wounds inflicted by a man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform, and that his death was under investigation.

While a student at Moeller High School and in the culinary arts program at Cincinnati State, Huling, who grew up in West Chester Twp., worked at the Manor House in Mason. Chef Kevin Lamb said Huling, started out as a dishwasher and worked his way up to kitchen manager.

“He was very polite and kind,” he said. “We used to razz him about that,” said Lamb, adding that Huling “was the most genuine person I have ever known ... I am so blessed to have known him ... I wish he could have been around a little longer.”

Huling, an avid Reds, Bengals and University of Cincinnati Bearcats basketball fan, had lived with Lamb and his family for about a year.

“He used to watch my kids and watched my baby girl Abby grow up,” Lamb said. “He came up with her nickname ‘Abino’ which was short for ‘Abby, No.’ ”

“I got to know him real well,” said Lamb, of Deerfield Twp. “I thought of him as a brother and we always called each other brother.”

While at Cincinnati State, Lamb said Huling “had an epiphany and he had to belong to something bigger,” and he decided he wanted to become a Marine. “It was a surprise to me when he enlisted because I never heard him talk about it,” he said. “But he made a conscious decision to join.”

When Huling graduated from Marine recruit training at Parris Island, S.C., Lamb said he was there along with Huling’s parents.

Huling also managed to shock his friend a second time a couple of years ago when he announced he had gotten married.

“He met Priscilla while he was stationed at Camp Pendleton and they got married quickly,” Lamb said. “But she’s a beautiful person and they just closed on a house in March.”

Also in March, Lamb said Huling, who also had been deployed in Iraq, spent a day with him.

“It was nice to be able to see him again,” Lamb said. During that visit, he said Huling shared his feelings about his next deployment to Afghanistan.

“I told him, ‘my little brother, I love you and be safe,’ and I gave him a hug,” Lamb said.

Albert Peterson, another Marine and Moeller classmate of Huling’s contacted Lamb via Facebook about his death.

“He and J.P. also worked at the Manor House about the same time,” Lamb said.

In addition to his wife and parents, John and Deborah Huling, he is survived by his brother, Justin, 23, who also is a Marine attending Miami University in Oxford; a sister, Lauren Coach, 30, of Cincinnati and a niece, Tyrah, 12.

He was assigned to 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Deborah Huling said she was informed by the Marines that her son died at a hospital shortly after being evacuated by helicopter.

Growing up in West Chester Twp., Huling attended St. Michael School in Sharonville before continuing his private Catholic school education at Moeller in Montgomery, where he graduated in 2004.

Blane Collison remembered Huling because that was his first year as principal of Moeller High School.

“He was a serious kind of kid who said ‘yes sir, no sir,’ but was also very fun-loving,” Collison said.

He said Huling always had a short haircut. Although Huling was quiet, he had a lot of friends.

Huling was involved in intramural basketball, football and wiffleball and was “a real solid student,” Collison said.

“He was very community-oriented and was really involved with ReSTOC and spent a lot of time there, well over the 50 hours that were required for graduation.”

ReSTOC is an affordable housing and housing rehabilitation program in Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine neighborhood.

Collison said he did not hear the news of Huling’s death until Monday morning and during the annual senior class awards assembly, there was “a very long moment of silence for his service to our country,” Collison said.

“Moeller is a very close family and it reminded us of the expectations of the brotherhood of our school,” he said.

“The students didn’t know J.P. but they were very solemn and reverent,” Collison said. “They did understand the sacrifices made by our men and women in the service of our country. Unfortunately, J.P. paid the ultimate sacrifice.”

Deborah Huling said her son re-enlisted in the Marines two years ago following his return from a deployment in Iraq. She told the Cincinnati Enquirer that her son was deployed to Afghanistan six months ahead of schedule and left on Good Friday. She said her son kept in touch with her by phone.

She told the Enquirer that her son’s body will be flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before being brought back to West Chester Twp. for burial.

No funeral arrangements have been made as of Monday.