Best friends joined Marines

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From the archives: Best friends joined Marines
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was published in the Springfield News-Sun on June 12, 2005. Sgt. David Christoff was killed Sunday while on patrol in Iraq.




Soldiers reunite after serving in Iraq


By Gail Cetnar

Staff Writer

Coming upon the scene of a helicopter crash in Iraq, Marine Cpl. Branden Skabla tried to push back the worry that he might see his best friend in the wreckage.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life,� Skabla said.

He saw the uniforms of the Marines in David Christoff’s battalion but nothing else. Faces were unrecognizable.

“I didn’t find out until a few days later� that Christoff was OK, Skabla said.

Relief washed over Skabla to know that Christoff — a friend so close that others often say the two are like twins — was not involved.

Though at one point the best friends were only 10 miles apart in Iraq, they did not see each other for two and a half years after parting ways following boot camp.

They kept up to date on how each was doing through correspondence with family and friends back home.

Last weekend, they were reunited.

Both were home on leave following stints in Iraq and gathered with family and friends.

The separation did bring a few changes, Christoff said. “He says I lost hair,� Christoff joked. “He’s getting old. And I’m getting better looking,� Skabla shot back. “But I’ve got a wife and kid.� “He lost a bet. He got married first,� Christoff said.

That will cost Skabla a couple cases of “Natty Light� beer.

Time has not changed their bond.

“We were so close before, and we will be so close forever,� Skabla said.

The pair was inseparable once they formed a friendship playing basketball at Reid Middle School. They both graduated from Shawnee High School in 1999 and afterward got construction jobs together in Toledo.

“We’ve done everything together,� Skabla said.

One day at work, they listened to radio reports about the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. They looked at each other and knew they were both thinking the same thing: they had to serve their country. So they enlisted in the Marines and went off to boot camp. They returned home for a short time following boot camp, and that was the last time they saw each other before last weekend when they were home on leave.

“We wanted to be together, but the Marine Corps didn’t make it that way,� Skabla said. Christoff was stationed in Hawaii with the First Battalion, Third Marine Regiment, Bravo Company. Skabla went to California with the Third Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Alpha Company.

In Iraq, Christoff participated in an offensive operation driving tanks. He spent four months in Fallujah, the most violent area of Iraq.

Skabla was a “ground pounder� — the Marines who are the first into an area and the first ones out. He rode in a light armor recognizance vehicle and served as road security on the highways.

Thoughts of each other helped sustain them through the tough times. They checked on each other through phone calls and letters to family back home.

Now, they said they can exchange combat stories that only other Marines could understand.

“It was always like you were waiting — waiting to get shot at, waiting to get blown up,� Skabla said.

“We call it ‘waiting for the flash,’� Christoff said.

The two insist that they are just doing their job. But Christoff’s father, also named David, insists they are too modest.

“These people are heroes,� he said.

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Family, friends remember fallen Marine
By Samantha Sommer



Staff Writer

Son, best friend, godfather, Marine.

Honorable, handsome, humorous, hero.

The words friends and family use to describe Sgt. David Christoff aren’t enough.

“There’s no describing what kind of a wonderful person he was to everyone,� said his father, David Christoff, of Rossford.

Sgt. Christoff, 25, died in Iraq on Sunday, killed by a roadside bomb, according to friends and family.

He was a 1999 graduate of Shawnee High School. His mother and stepfather still live here.

Sgt. Christoff re-enlisted in the Marines last year and volunteered for a second tour of Iraq, said his friend Branden Skabla, who joined the Marines with him and also fought in Iraq.

During his first tour in Iraq, Skabla said Sgt. Christoff fought in the push into Fallujah.

In his recent second tour there, he saw less action. The Marines mostly did patrols and waited, Skabla said, and worried about roadside bombs.

Some fellow Marines that trained with Sgt. Christoff were going to Iraq, and he wanted to join them, Skabla said.

People were forgetting the war, Sgt. Christoff told Skabla.

“He never forgot about it,� Skabla said. “He always said, ‘If there’s a war going on, I want to be there. I want to protect my country.�

Skabla said he will never forget the day he and Sgt. Christoff quit their constructions jobs to join the Marines after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Last August, Skabla, 25, left the Marines and joined his wife and son, now in Toledo.

He asked Sgt. Christoff, whom he considered a brother, to be the godfather to his son.

“He was excited and he accepted with open arms,� Skabla said. “He loves my son and wife like I do.�

Skabla last saw his best friend when he was home on leave a few months ago. They went to a Super Bowl party and then to visit Sgt. Christoff’s family in Rossford.

The elder David Christoff had a heart attack during that visit. Sgt. Christoff took his father to the hospital and extended his leave a few days.

His father credits that with saving his life.

“He was my life,� father David Christoff said. “Part of my heart is gone and I’ll never get it back.�

Sgt. Christoff lived every day to the fullest and died doing what he wanted to do by defending his country, his father said.

He often told his father not to believe the bad news about the war and that he saw the good occurring in Iraq.

“We all slept safely every night because of what he and his warriors are doing,� the elder David Christoff said.

Bob Willman, former Clark-Shawnee superintendant, remembered Sgt. Christoff as well-spoken, liked and respected.

It didn’t surprise Willman that Sgt. Christoff joined the Marines.

“He was loyal to his family, and to his classmates and to his school,� Willman said, “and obviously, to his country.�

Sgt. Christoff last talked to his father in the middle of the night on Thursday.

They talked about the weather — it hit 100 degrees in Iraq — and sports — he wanted to know how LeBron James was doing in the playoffs.

“It was a typical father-son chat,� father David Christoff said.

Words he’ll cherish forever.

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Shawnee grad killed in Iraq Sunday was dedicated to his country
By Samantha Sommer



Staff Writer


Son, best friend, godfather, Marine.

Honorable, handsome, humorous, hero.

The words friends and family use to describe Sgt. David Christoff aren’t enough.

“There’s no describing what kind of a wonderful person he was to everyone,� said his father, David Christoff, of Rossford.

Sgt. Christoff, 25, died in Iraq on Sunday, killed by a improvised explosive device, according to friends and family.

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SLIDESHOW: Remembering David Christoff
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Story archiveHe was a 1999 graduate of Shawnee High School. His mother and stepfather, Amy and Jim Hogan, live here.

Sgt. Christoff re-enlisted in the Marines last year and volunteered for a second tour of Iraq, said fellow Shawnee grad Branden Skabla, who joined the Marines with him and also fought in Iraq.

Some fellow Marines that trained with Sgt. Christoff were going to Iraq and he wanted to join them, Skabla said.

People were forgetting the war, Sgt. Christoff told Skabla.

“He never forgot about it,� Skabla said. “He always said, ‘If there’s a war going on, I want to be there. I want to protect my country.’�

Skabla said he will never forget the day he and Sgt. Christoff quit their constructions jobs to join the Marines after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Last August, Skabla, 25, left the Marines and joined his wife and son, now in Toledo.

He asked Sgt. Christoff, whom he considered a brother, to be the godfather to his son.

“He was excited and he accepted with open arms,� Skabla said. “He loves my son and wife like I do.�

Skabla last saw his best friend when he was home on leave a few months ago. They went to a Super Bowl party at the Hogans and to see family near Toledo.

The elder David Christoff had a heart attack during that visit. Sgt. Christoff took his father to the hospital and extended his leave a few days.

His father credits that with saving his life.

“He was my life,� father David Christoff said. “Part of my heart is gone and I’ll never get it back.�

Sgt. Christoff liked all kinds of music, rap when he was younger and classic rock more recently.

His mother, Amy Hogan, described him as a caring person who loved to joke around with his friends.

He tended to be more quiet around his parents, Jim Hogan said, but would let loose with friends, especially other Marines.

“He’d do anything for his friends,� Amy Hogan said.

Sgt. Christoff would want to be remembered as always faithful, his mother said, the Marine Corps slogan.

He often told his father not to believe the bad news about the war and that he saw the good occurring in Iraq.

“We all slept safely every night because of what he and his warriors are doing,� the elder David Christoff said.

Sgt. Christoff told Amy and Jim Hogan about his interactions with the Iraqis. They sent over packages for the children in Iraq with candy, gum and ballpoint pens.

“That was the big item, ballpoint pens,� Jim Hogan said.

He called his father in the middle of the night on Thursday.

They talked about the weather — it hit 100 degrees in Iraq — and sports — he wanted to know how LeBron James was doing in the playoffs.

“It was a typical father-son chat,� dad David Christoff said.

Words he’ll cherish forever.

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Scholarship to honor Sgt. Christoff
The Springfield/Clark County Safety Council has established a scholarship honoring fallen Marine Sgt. David Christoff.



Christoff re-enlisted in the Marines and changed companies in order to return to Iraq and use his previous combat experience to train younger Marines.

“(He had) a strong sense of duty to provide training to new Marines so they can actually be safe,� said Al Haley, a council board member and a Marine veteran.

Christoff’s mother, Amy Hogan, also is a long-time member of the safety council.

Clark-Shawnee schools will administer the scholarship, which will be available to any employee, spouse or child of one of the council’s more than 200 business members who pursue safety studies.

The council donated $1,000 to start the scholarship fund and will ask its members and the public to donate.

To donate, send a check made out to the Clark-Shawnee Local Schools David Christoff Scholarship to 3680 Selma Road, Springfield, Ohio, 45502.

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Fallen Marine's dad: 'I had a hero, and I didn't know it'
Family and friends gather on Memorial Day to honor Sgt. David R. Christoff who was killed while serving in Iraq.
By Natalie Morales
Staff Writer

ROSSFORD — Tears fell from the eyes of family and friends gathered on Memorial Day to honor the life of Marine Sgt. David R. Christoff.
“This just tells what type of person David was,� Christoff’s best friend and fellow Marine, Cpl. Branden Skabla said. “Everybody that was in here, he touched their lives somehow.�
Arriving guests passed a row of dozens of American flags held by members of the Patriot Guard Riders — a group of mostly motorcyclists who travel to memorials of fallen soldiers to honor their sacrifices — lined up facing All Saints Catholic Church, near Toledo.
Attendees gathered in the church’s lobby to sign a guest book and comfort one another about the loss of Christoff, who was killed by a roadside bomb May 21 while on foot patrol near Haditha in al Anbar province in Iraq.
Photos of Christoff as a curly-haired child, a high school athlete and a Marine flashed on a TV screen in the lobby.
About 2:15 p.m., attendees were invited to share thoughts about Christoff.
“Because of David and many others like him we can continue to tuck our children safely into bed each night, knowing they are protected by our American superheroes,� one speaker said.
Sgt. Christoff first joined the Marines after the terrorists attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, then re-enlisted last year and switched companies so he could go back to Iraq.
The elder David Christoff, of Rossford, also acknowledged his son’s bravery.
“I had a hero, and I didn’t know it. He was so modest, but that is the first sign of a hero, the modestly — it’s incredible,� he said.
Gunnery Sgt. Ryan Miller read the audience a letter written by Sgt. Christoff to his father on Nov. 7, hours before he and fellow Marines entered Fallujah.
“If you’re reading this, I have passed away � he read. “I wanted to come here for a reason. Basically, I don’t want my brother and sister and the rest of the young ones to deal with these terrorists.�
Sgt. Christoff’s letter asked his father to remind people of the battle in Fallujah and of the soldiers fighting for American freedoms.
“I am proud to be here and wouldn’t give it up for anything,� the letter said. “Tell everyone to be grateful for what they have for the Marines who made the ultimate sacrifice.�
Skabla called it a perfect example of his friend’s dedication to the Marines.
“He loved to honor his country, and that letter just said it all,� said Skabla, who graduated from Shawnee High School with Sgt. Christoff in 1999 and considered him a brother.
Sgt. Christoff’s mother, Amy Hogan, of Springfield, and the elder David Christoff, each was presented with a Purple Heart medal Sgt. Christoff earned during his two tours of duty of Iraq.
Sgt. Christoff also earned three commendation medals and wrote in his letter of the respect he had for the Marines he worked with, side-by-side.
“Right now I’m running with the greatest Americans. They are all my brothers and all heroes.�