GRANVILLE, Mass. (AP) – Marine 1st Lt. Travis J. Fuller was remembered on Friday as a standout student and athlete who put as much effort and dedication into his physical training as he did in the classroom.

Fuller, 26, was among the 31 people killed in a helicopter crash in the Iraqi desert on Wednesday, according to the Pentagon. It was the U.S. military’s deadliest crash of the Iraq war.

“I can’t think of words to say,” Jean E. Ayotte, Fuller’s grandmother, told The Republican of Springfield. “It’s pretty hard to take, that’s for sure.”

Fuller, a Granville native, was a 1997 graduate of Southwick-Tolland Regional High School, who went on to attend Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Bourne, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in marine transportation.

Fuller’s parents, David and Joanne Fuller, are staying with relatives outside the area and could not be reached for comment, Ayotte said.

“They are destroyed,” she said.

Fuller also has two sisters, said Ayotte, who lives in Agawam.

Fuller was a leader, said Eduardo Martinez, his high school wrestling coach. He was respected by his teammates and was captain of the team his senior year.

“Travis was very good and everyone enjoyed being around him,” Martinez said.

Fuller was on the 19-member New England All-Star team in 1996 that participated in an international wrestling competition in Puerto Rico, where he won the 132-pound class in his age division.

“He was a good student with outstanding work habits again, both in the classroom and the wrestling mat,” said James E. Vincent, the assistant principal when Fuller attended high school.

Fuller and the others died when their CH-53E Super Stallion went down in western Iraq while transporting troops for security operations in preparation for Sunday’s elections.

Fuller, 3rd platoon commander for Company C, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, III Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Hawaii, saw action in Fallujah in November when his unit fought insurgents.

Granville, a town of about 1,500 people, is about 15 miles west of Springfield on the Connecticut border.

More than 1,400 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 25 were from Massachusetts, according to the Pentagon.

Funeral arrangements for Fuller were pending as of Friday.

AP-ES-01-28-05 2051EST