Dion M. Whitley, Marines, Lance Corporal -- Rest In Peace

Dion M. Whitley, 21

Marines, Lance Corporal
Based: Camp Pendleton
1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: June 15, 2005
Ramadi (near), Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Altadena
High School: John Muir High (Pasadena)
Burial: Mountain View Cemetery, Altadena

From the LA Times:

In his teen years, Dion Whitley was known to friends and family as a "gentle giant."

But being big -- too big -- almost got in the way of his dream of enlisting in the Marines.

That wouldn't stop him. Ever since anyone could remember, the Altadena youngster had wanted to be a U.S. Marine.

"He was patriotic. He liked the outdoors. He watched war movies. It was just something we always knew he wanted to do," said his older brother, Arian Whitley, 26.

At every opportunity, the future lance corporal and machine gunner talked about his goal. He even wrote about the Marines in his high school essays.

But recruiters told him he had to shed weight from his 300-pound, 6-foot, 3-inch frame before the Marines would take him.

Whitley threw himself into a daily exercise routine and even trained with the recruiters to show them he was serious. After several months of discipline, "he really slimmed down," recalled Arian. "He looked fit and trim."

The 21-year-old and three [four] other Marines were killed June 15 by an insurgent attack while on patrol near Ramadi, Iraq.

[Also killed were Lance Cpl. Jonathan R. Flores, Lance Cpl. Chad B. Maynard, Cpl. Jesse Jaime and Cpl. Tyler S. Trovillion.]

Becoming a Marine was only the first of several plans Whitley had for his life. He wanted to use his military pay and benefits to go to college, buy a home and start a business.

In his final phone call home, on June 7, he chatted about his future.

"We were talking about getting ready to buy a house for him in Las Vegas," said Arian, also of Altadena. "And we talked about the business we wanted to start together, a barbecue catering business for the film industry. He talked about that all the time."

Arian said his brother did not plan to stay in the military because he was unhappy with the Iraq war. "He wanted to do his duty to his country," Arian said. "But he knew the war wasn't a good war. He was saddened by it because he wasn't a person who wants to hurt other people. He was in good spirits while he was there, but he was no killer."


Longtime friend Josh Smith, 20, of Pasadena remembered Whitley as quiet and shy but someone who loved to amuse people. "He made your hours happy. We didn't even have to go out. We'd play video games, cards, dominoes."


Born in Rock Island, Ill., Whitley was raised by a single mother and lived nearly all his life in Altadena. He thrived in the Boy Scouts and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.


"He set a good example for others," Arian said.

Whitley entered the Marines shortly after graduating from John Muir High School in 2002. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, and was deployed to Iraq in March.

The Department of Defense told his family his unit was preparing to place snipers in strategic positions when his Humvee rolled over a homemade bomb that hit the vehicle's gas tank.

In addition to his brother, his survivors include his mother, Deborah Whitley of Altadena.

The funeral will be Thursday at Victory Bible Church in Pasadena.

Visit Marine Corporal Dion M. Whitley's Guest Book.

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Marine Lance Cpl. Jonathan R. Flores -- Rest In Peace

Marine Lance Cpl. Chad B. Maynard -- Rest In Peace

Marine Cpl. Jesse Jaime -- Rest In Peace 

Marine Cpl. Tyler S. Trovillion -- Rest In Peace

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CAMP HURRICANE POINT, AR RAMADI, Iraq – Sgt. Jade C. Hill, squad leader of 3rd Squad, 2nd Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, delivers a eulogy during a memorial ceremony here June 23 in honor of Lance Cpl. Dion M. Whitley and five other fellow brothers-in-arms who were killed while fighting terror in the city June 15. Whitley was a 21-year-old from Pasadena, Calif., and machine gunner with 3rd Squad, 2nd Platoon, Company A. Whitley graduated Marshall High School in 2002 and then enlisted in the Marine Corps. He is survived by his mother, Deborah.

Photo submitted 07/01/2005 Taken by Cpl. Tom Sloan

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