The Defense Department says that 25-year-old Marine Corporal Christopher DeGiovine formerly of Essex Junction was killed in Anbar Province, Iraq, on Thursday.
The Pentagon said DeGiovine, who was attached with the Second Assault Amphibian Battalion, Second Marine Division, was killed in combat. It listed his current hometown as Lone Tree, Colorado.
DeGiovine graduated from Essex High School in 2000 and from Champlain College in 2005, where he studied criminal justice.
For two summers, 2003 and 2004, he did bicycle patrols for the Essex Police Department.
Essex Police Lieutenant Ken Beaulieu described DeGiovine as a hard-working and well-liked employee of the department.
DeGiovine is the 26th serviceman to die in support of the war in Iraq. Another serviceman died in action in Afghanistan.