A 19-year-old Marine from central Iowa died in Afghanistan Friday. Lance Corporal Joshua Davis was a 2009 graduate of Perry High School where he played on the football team and wrestled.

Davis was killed in combat in the Helmand province in southwest Afghanistan. Some of the heaviest fighting of the nine-year-old war has happened recently in that area as U.S.-led forces try to drive the Taliban out.

The marine’s family flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Sunday to meet the plane carrying Davis’ body back to the U.S.