WILDOMAR -- A Wildomar mom Monday looked toward the coming opening of a trail to memorialize her son as more evidence that the community has not forgotten the young Marine killed in Iraq.

On Monday, those who helped create the Justin T. Hunt Memorial Trail held an informal tour of the scenic path set against some of the community's western hills. The trail is open, but a monument to commemorate Hunt and others has not yet been erected. A May 31 event will mark the official opening.

Hunt, a 2000 graduate of Elsinore High School, was killed as a result of enemy action in the Al Anbar province on July 6, 2004. He was a 22-year-old lance corporal in the Marine Corps.

His mother said she views the trail designation as a community honor that would please her son.

"I tell everyone to keep his memory alive; to not forget about him," Debbie Hunt said. "That is what he would have wanted. He was proud of his accomplishments, and with any recognition, I know he is just smiling down on us."

Gary Andre, head of the Wildomar-based Butterfield Multiuse Trails, said he started working on naming the trail after Hunt about two years ago. The county has since officially approved that designation.

The trail at the western end of Gruwell Street is the first of its kind in Wildomar, he said, adding that he hopes more will follow. Butterfield Trails is working with the Wildomar Historic Society on plans to begin naming some of the area's 70 or so trails after people who played a key role in the area's history, Andre said.

The mile-and-a-quarter trail connects to Grand Avenue and will eventually go all the way to Temecula, he added.

Andre said Hunt lived near him and that he remembers him stopping to say hello sometimes as Andre came home from work.

"He was very friendly, just a good kid," he said.

Hunt agreed her son was personable, and said he worked hard to get into the Marine Corps.

Justin Hunt weighed as much as 360 pounds in high school, despite being on the football, track and wrestling teams, she said, but trained with a recruiter early every morning and eventually lost 170 pounds. He lost an additional 30 pounds when he was in basic training, she said.

He graduated basic training in January 2003 and was in Iraq about four months when he died.

"He definitely died doing what he wanted to do," she said. "He was always into being part of a team, maybe that was because he was a twin. And he was a defender of the underdog and someone who liked to help people."

Several people helped to make his trail a reality, Andre said, including Supervisor Bob Buster, who helped secure $2,000 in county funding for a 5-foot concrete monument that will be placed at the trailhead.

It will include the names of three other area residents who died recently, and there is space to include a dozen more, he said. The three other names are those of two area children and Jon Rodarme, a 58-year-old Wildomar man who died in 2005 and was active in the cityhood movement.

The two children are Keaton White, who died in 2003 at age 13, after suffering from a rare form of cancer, Andre said, and 15-year-old Jessie James Possehl, a Temescal Canyon High School sophomore who was killed when he was struck by a car while riding his bike last July near Highway 74 in the Meadowbrook area.

The Justin T. Hunt Memorial Trail was created by D.R. Horton Homes, as part of a requirement for the company's nearby housing development, Andre said. Other sponsors of the $8,500 monument to be placed at the trailhead include Arizona Tile, KZ Masonry and Eagle's Mark Awards and Signs, Andre said.

He said he hopes area trail markers will one day tell hikers, equestrians and others about people in the community who made a difference.

"We want to be personal and to acknowledge our history," he said.

Councilwoman-elect Sheryl Ade, who participated in the trail preview Monday along with fellow Councilwoman-elect Marsha Swanson, said she thought the trails were a good way to honor residents.

"These are community trails and this is a great way to pay tribute to people's accomplishments and sacrifices," Ade said.

She said such recognition is welcomed by Hunt's family, but that anything to do with Justin is very emotional for his parents and seven brothers and sisters.

Another recognition came in 2005, she said, when Stater Bros. on Clinton Keith Road erected a memorial to Justin shortly after the store was built.

"Justin was very proud of where he came from, and he's kind of the local boy," she said. "Most people in our little community know Justin."

Ten people with ties to Southwest County have died in the Iraq War.

The other nine are: U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Aaron Contreras, 31, of Temecula; U.S. Army Pfc. Daniel Parker, 18, a 2002 graduate of Elsinore High School; U.S. Marine Cpl. Matthew Matula, 20, of Murrieta; U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Jorge Molina Bautista, 37, of Sun City; U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Kevin Shea, 38, of Temecula; U.S. Army Sgt. Stephen Saxton, 24, a 1998 graduate of Temecula Valley High School; U.S. Army Sgt. Nathan Bouchard, 24, a 1999 Elsinore High School graduate; U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jeromy West, 20, a 2004 graduate of Hamilton High School in Anza; and U.S. Army Capt. Brian Freeman, 31, of Temecula.

Andre said he has tried to reach the families of some of the others who lost their lives in the war and will continue to do so.

For more information or to make a donation toward monuments on other trails, e-mail butterfieldtrails@verizon.net or call (951) 609-3737.

Contact staff writer Cathy Redfern at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or at credfern@californian.com. Comment at www.californian.com.