Ottawa ? For the two tours of duty of their son’s deployment in Iraq, Candy and Scott Wasser told friends that it was a good day when a Marine chaplain didn’t come walking down the sidewalk.

Thursday night, he came.

Their son, Lance Cpl. Christopher B. Wasser, 21, was killed by shrapnel Thursday afternoon while serving with the 3rd Battalion regimental combat team 7 of the Marine Corps in Al-Anbar province, Iraq.

Candy and Scott Wasser had just come from a performance of the light, comedic opera “Pirates of Penzance” at the Lied Center in Lawrence.

It was 11:30 p.m. Candy had fixed a snack for herself. Then the doorbell rang.

Outside, four men in dress-blue uniforms stood somber. They knew few details. But they didn’t have to say anything. The Wassers knew their baby — their oldest son — was gone.

“It’s kind of like, ‘Oh my,'” Candy Wasser said Friday. “The moment you dreaded most.”

Eager to serve

Chris, as his friends and family knew him, couldn’t wait to serve in the military. Even before he turned 18, he begged his parents to sign the permission form for early entry. They made him wait. They took him to see “Saving Private Ryan,” a sobering film about the violence of D-Day during World War II.

But on his 18th birthday, before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the prospect of war, Chris drove to a recruiting office in Kansas City and became a Marine.

The idea of a son in the military didn’t settle with Scott and Candy Wasser. They had grown up opposing the war in Vietnam. But seeing Chris excited about giving back was enough to calm them.

“He wanted to be a Marine. That was what he wanted,” Scott Wasser said. “He got to fulfill that dream, and for that I’m happy for him. You see him in those dress blues, you swell up with pride.”

Chris had liked a challenge, Candy Wasser said. He power-lifted in high school. He played paintball. He liked to hang out with friends. He was light-hearted most of the time but serious about exerting the kind of effort it takes to be in the infantry.

Chris started basic training Sept. 11, 2001, as terrorists crashed commercial airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Basic training graduation day for Chris fell on the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

Chris was stationed at Twentynine Palms, Calif., in March 2002 and left for his first deployment to Kuwait in January 2003. He was one of the first to arrive for combat in Kabala, Iraq.

Ironically, a letter he had sent arrived Friday, and in it, he sounded upbeat. During his second tour of duty, which began in February, the base was more comfortable. He wrote about his new access to e-mail, a DVD player, a small library of books and the store-bought cookies Candy Wasser had sent in a care package. Chris had signed on for four years in the military, but he was expecting to go to Okinawa, Japan, this year.

Community feels loss

It didn’t take long for the community to respond to the Wassers’ loss.

Early Friday morning, Ottawa Mayor Gene Ramsey was at the Wasser door, asking permission to lower city flags to half-staff in their son’s honor.

Friends, acquaintances and people the Wassers hardly knew showered them with condolences and food. Candy and Scott Wasser set out a sheet of paper for visitors to sign, which overflowed onto a second sheet and then a third. A friend began fielding telephone calls because the influx had became almost overwhelming, Scott Wasser said.

Students at Ottawa High School still remember Chris. His brother, Nick, his sister, Katie, and Chris’ girlfriend are all seniors there. Emily, his youngest sister, is 14. Chris graduated only three years ago in 2001.

When Chris returned home from Twentynine Palms in September, he attended a high school football game. Candy Wasser can still picture him, in his crisp dress blues, standing on the field during halftime while what seemed like the whole town applauded his military service. Chris briefly returned home from California for Christmas, and later the family flew to Las Vegas to meet. That was the last time they saw him.

Breaking the news

Scott Wasser slept in five-minute intervals Thursday night. He and his wife had to tell Katie when she came home from a date with her boyfriend. Nick was still awake. Emily was sleeping. No sense depriving her of a night’s sleep, Scott Wasser thought, so he and Candy waited until morning to break the news about her oldest brother.

Friday afternoon, Candy Wasser went back to work delivering papers for The Ottawa Herald.

“I didn’t want to miss any of those downtown hugs,” she said.

Scott Wasser, a hospice nurse, has experience consoling grieving family members. He has been through the deaths of both of parents. But this time, the emotional impact is more severe.

His voice quivering, he reflected on the community’s support.

“It reminds me of the James Stewart character in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,'” he said. “When they decide to take up the collection for money, the whole town turns out, and you don’t even realize how much support is there.”

Funeral arrangements are pending the arrival of the body, which should be in about a week, Candy Wasser said.

Chris Wasser is the second area soldier to die in combat in Iraq. Jacob Butler, 24, Wellsville, was killed a little more than a year ago on April 1, 2003, near Samawah, Iraq.