Marcus S. Glimpse, Marines, Lance Corporal -- Rest In Peace

Marcus S. Glimpse, 22

Marines, Lance Corporal
Based: Camp Pendleton
1st Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: April 12, 2006
Baghdad (west of), Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Huntington Beach
High School: Huntington Beach Continuing Adult Education School (Huntington Beach)
Burial: Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego

There may not have been a more unlikely Marine than Marcus Glimpse. As a teenager, he dropped out of high school, painted his fingernails black and sported a fuchsia-colored Mohawk. Glimpse couldn't hold a job, even at Blockbuster, where he was fired for being perpetually late -- at a store 500 yards from his home.

But when his twin brother, Michael, became an Army paratrooper, Marcus wanted to do his brother one better by joining the Marine Corps, said his father, Guy.

Glimpse, a 22-year-old Huntington Beach resident, entered boot camp at Camp Pendleton as a 5-foot-9, 129-pound computer nerd who liked to sleep during the day and play video games at night. By the time he graduated, his father said, he was "160 pounds of just pure muscle" and had turned into a quiet leader.

"We were so proud of him," his father said. "Being a Marine proved to him that he was more than just this geek kid sitting behind the computer screen. He really could do more than he ever envisioned."

On April 12, the lance corporal was killed by a remotecontrolled homemade bomb at a roadside security checkpoint in Iraq's Al Anbar province, west of Baghdad.

Guy Glimpse said his son wanted to go into military intelligence but was assigned to be part of a mortar team. Later, he became a machine gunner.

Michael Glimpse spoke of his brother's character. "The most admirable thing about him was his loyalty to his family and friends," he said. "Being a Marine helped show [his good qualities] a lot more. It helped chisel away the rough edges."

With his enlistment up in 2007, Marcus was deciding whether to reenlist or go to college with the goal of becoming an attorney. "I've always known how talented Marc was," his father said. "Finally he did too."

In addition to his father and brother, Glimpse is survived by his mother, Maryan; and two sisters, Mandy and Megan.

Read the entire LA Times article about Marine Lance Corporal Marcus S. Glimpse here.

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