Based: Camp Pendleton
Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, I Marine Expeditionary Force
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: November 16, 2005
Ubaydi (near Syrian border), Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Grass Valley
High School: Bear River High (Grass Valley)
Burial: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.
Marine Lance Cpl. John Lucente, 19, Grass Valley; Killed by Hand Grenade
There was something sweetly old-fashioned about Marine Lance Cpl. John Lucente, who was among five Marines killed Nov. 16 in combat in Ubaydi, Iraq, an insurgent stronghold near the Syrian border.
The 19-year-old Grass Valley, Calif., resident went to church regularly, enlisted in the Marine Corps in his junior year in high school, held down a summer job as a dishwasher and never failed to tell his family that he loved them.
In his last e-mail home, Lucente asked for prayers for his safety and that of others in Operation Steel Curtain, which was launched earlier this month with 2,500 Marines, soldiers and sailors, as well as 1,000 Iraqi soldiers.
The assault was said to be the first time that battalion-sized Iraqi units have fought alongside U.S. forces in restive Al Anbar province, stretching west almost from Baghdad to the Syrian border. The province is a stronghold of Sunni-led insurgents fighting the American-backed Iraqi government.
In addition to his mother and stepfather, Lucente is survived by two brothers, Cris, 15, and 2-month-old Jake; and a sister Cassie, 9. Jake was given his name by Lucente, his mother said.
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