Jose Angel Garibay, Marines, Corporal -- Rest In Peace

Jose Angel Garibay, 21

Marines, Corporal
Based: Camp Lejeune, N.C.
1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, II Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: March 23, 2003
Nasiriya, Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Costa Mesa
High School: Newport Harbor High (Newport Beach)
Foreign Country of Birth: Mexico
Burial: Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside

I went to High School with Jose. We joined the Marines together and were in the same platoon in boot camp.

I remember 2 months into boot camp, he walked over to me one evening during the 20 minutes of liberty time we were given and he said, "How are you doing Harry?" I hadn't heard my first name said to me in over two months and it stunned me. He brought me back down to Earth and reminded me of the world that existed outside of that rather unpleasant, at the time, situation we were both in.

He was an incredible friend and a truly dedicated Marine.

— Harry Agdayan
November 12, 2010 at 7:58 p.m.

Three men in uniform knocked on Simona Garibay's door in Costa Mesa early Monday, walking past U.S. and Mexican flags proudly planted in her front lawn.


At first she was mystified that these strangers were asking for her by name.


"I didn't know who they were," she said, too upset to say much more. "Then they told me the horrible news."


Her 21-year-old son, Marine Cpl. Jose Angel Garibay, had been killed in combat in Iraq, the Marines told family members. Late Monday, the Department of Defense confirmed that Garibay was one of seven Marines killed in action Sunday near Nasiriyah, Iraq, in some of the heaviest fighting of the war to date. 

Also killed were Cpl. Jorge A. Gonzalez, 20, of Los Angeles
Sgt. Michael E. Bitz, 31, of Ventura
Lance Cpl. David K. Fribley, 26, of Lee, Fla.
Staff Sgt. Phillip A. Jordan, 42, of Brazoria, Texas
2nd Lt. Frederick E. Pokorney Jr., 31, of Nye, Nev.
Lance Cpl. Thomas J. Slocum, 22, of Adams, Colo.

Garibay, a stocky former football player from Newport Harbor High School, joined the Marines three years ago, right after graduation, handling missiles and mortars for a weapons platoon. He was shipped out to the Middle East three months ago.

The Marine, whose family moved to the United States from Jalisco, Mexico, when he was a baby, is the first Orange County serviceman to be killed in combat.

He wrote to this mother often and sent money home almost every month, family members said. In his last letter, which arrived from Kuwait on March 11, he asked for a package of his favorite Mexican candies and a CD of popular ranchera singer Vicente Fernandez.

Do read the entire LA Times article about Marine Corporal Jose Angel Garibay here,
find more at Wall Dads,
Fallen Heroes and the Orange County Register.

Also remembered here today is Marine Corporal Randal Kent Rosacker.

We are freedom's answer to fear. We do not bargain with terror. We stalk it, corner it, take aim and kill it.

— Jose Angel Garibay, in final letter to his girlfriend

Edwin William Roodhouse, Army, Specialist -- Rest In Peace

Edwin William Roodhouse , 36

Army, Specialist
Based: Camp Greaves, South Korea
1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: December 5, 2004
Habbaniya (near), Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: San Jose
Burial: Willamette National Cemetery, Portland, Ore.

At 33, Edwin Roodhouse shocked family and friends by joining the Army.

A computer network engineer, he had bounced from one Silicon Valley job to the next, following the cycles of boom and bust without ever settling down.

But after 10 years, he was ready for a new career. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks focused him on doing something for his country and, at his age, the Army was the only service that would accept him.

Roodhouse signed up in 2002. He died in Iraq on Dec. 5, when a homemade bomb blew up the Humvee carrying him and four others. A sergeant [Staff Sgt Marvin Lee Trost III] from Indiana was also killed and three soldiers were injured.

Read the whole LA Times article about Army Specialist Edwin William Roodhouse here and find more here and here with messages and remembrances here.

++++++++++++++++++

Staff Sergeant Marvin Lee Trost was based in Georgia where his wife and three children were at the time of his death. In addition to his mother, who lives in Elkhart County, he also has three brothers who live there as well.

Matthew W. Ramsey, Army, Specialist -- Rest In Peace

Matthew W. Ramsey, 20

Army, Specialist
Based: Ft. Campbell, Ky.
1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom
Died: November 29, 2010
Nangarhar province, Afghanistan
Married, 1 child
Gender: Male
Hometown: Quartz Hill
High School: Quartz Hill High (Quartz Hill)

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — Several ... top national security advisers stood on a silent, windy tarmac Wednesday night to watch as the bodies of six soldiers killed by a rogue Afghan policeman returned to U.S. soil.

The six were killed in Afghanistan on Monday when the border policeman turned his gun on his American trainers as the group headed to shooting practice. The gunman was killed in the shootout in Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border.

The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the officer had enlisted as a sleeper agent to have an opportunity to kill foreigners.

The only sound during the “dignified transfer” was of the wind blowing through the 747 jet engines as the flag-topped caskets, called transfer cases, were lowered to the ground. Teams of white-gloved pallbearers carried each casket to a waiting truck. Fathers, mothers, wives and other family members of five of the soldiers traveled to Dover for Wednesday’s return.

The dead are Sgt. Barry E. Jarvis of Tell City, Ind.; Pfc. Jacob A. Gassen of Beaver Dam, Wis.; Pvt. Buddy W. McLain of Mexico, Maine; Spc. Matthew W. Ramsey of Quartz Hill, Calif.; Pvt. Austin G. Staggs of Senoia, Ga., and Staff Sgt. Curtis A. Oakes of Athens, Ohio

The the entire AP article about Army Specialist Matthew W. Ramsey and his group in Military Times here and find more here.

From the LA Times:

They had some tea and were getting ready for some firing...the lone ABP [Afghan Border Patrolman] fired at them, instantly killed five, then turned to where the platoon leader and the platoon sergeant were and shot the platoon sergeant.
— Maj. Gen. John F. Campbell, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)

Ramsey was among six soldiers shot and killed Nov. 29 by an Afghan border policeman at an observation point near the Pakistani border. The shooter was a lone gunman who fired at five of the six, including Ramsey, from behind as they were gathered together at an observation point in Nangarhar province, according to Maj. Gen. John F. Campbell. A full obituary will follow.

Sgt. 1st Class Barry E. Jarvis, 36, of Tell City, Ind
-- Rest In Peace

Staff Sgt. Curtis A. Oakes, 29, of Athens, Ohio
-- Rest In Peace

Spc. Matthew W. Ramsey, 20, of Quartz Hill, Ca
-- Rest In Peace

Pfc. Jacob A. Gassen, 21, of Beaver Dam, Wis
-- Rest In Peace 

Pfc. Austin G. Staggs, 19, of Senoia, Ga
-- Rest In Peace

Pvt. Buddy W. McLain, 24, of Mexico, Maine
-- Rest In Peace