Abraham Simpson, Marines, Lance Corporal -- Rest In Peace

Abraham Simpson, 19

Marines, Lance Corporal
Based: Camp Pendleton
3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: November 9, 2004
Fallouja, Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Chino
High School: Southland Christian School (Walnut)
Burial: Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside

Even as a boy, Simpson wanted to be a Marine. He joined the military after high school, despite grades that could have gotten him into a good college with a scholarship, family members said.

After basic training, he paid a visit to his old school and talked to the senior class about being a Marine.

"He was tall and he walked in with so much pride," said Mallory Madrigal, a student at the time. "He just went on about how much he liked the Marines."

Eight months after he signed on, he shipped out to Iraq. He spent his last day stateside with fellow Scouts from a leadership training group in which he had been active for six years.

"He spent the day with us in his Marine uniform just being an example, and teaching the 14- to 16-year-olds how to demonstrate leadership skills to younger Scouts," said Dan Glass, an El Monte police detective and the leader of the group.

Glass said the Scouts were thinking of installing a plaque in Simpson's memory at a trailside vista he loved just outside the Holcomb Valley Scout Ranch north of Big Bear.

At the end of his day with the leadership group, Simpson was assigned to lower the American flag.

"We said a prayer for his safety and we thanked him for his service," Glass said. "That was the last time we saw him."

Read the entire LA Times article about Marine Lance Corporal Abraham Simpson here and read more here.

A procession headed by family members follows the casket bearing Lance Cpl. Abraham Simpson after funeral services for the fallen Marine Saturday, Nov. 27, 2004 in Chino Hills, Calif. Simpson was killed in combat Nov. 9, 2004, in the al-Anbar province of Iraq. (AP Photo/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Therese Tran) Look here for the source of this photograph.