Marines' Deaths Hit Home for Ohio-Based Battalion
AP
Sgt. Nathaniel Rock from the Martins Ferry (Ohio) Police Department, was one of 20 Marines killed this week.
BROOK PARK, Ohio (Aug. 3) - The 14 Marines killed in Iraq on Wednesday by a roadside bomb were members of the same Ohio-based battalion that lost six Marines two days earlier, a Marine Corps spokesman said.
The Marines were members of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines based in this Cleveland suburb, according to Gunnery Sgt. Brad R. Lauer, public affairs chief with the unit.
The local unit to which the 14 Marines were assigned wasn't disclosed.
The battalion has units in Brook Park, where the six Marines lost Monday were assigned, and in Columbus and Akron, Ohio; Moundsville, W.Va.; and Buffalo, N.Y.
The 14 died when a Marine armored vehicle on patrol during combat operations near the Syrian border hit a roadside bomb. They were riding in an amphibious assault vehicle, which is designed to carry troops from ship to shore and on land. The site is just outside Haditha, which is 140 miles northwest of Baghdad.
It was one of the deadliest single attacks in Iraq against American forces. A civilian interpreter also was killed.
The names of those killed were not released.
The first six died while on sniper duty on Monday northwest of Baghdad. They were members of the Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Battalion. Family members identified four of the dead as Lance Cpl. Jeff Boskovitch of North Royalton, Lance Cpl. Brian Montgomery of Willoughby, Daniel Nathan Deyarmin of Tallmadge and Sgt. Nathaniel Rock of Toronto, Ohio.
Boskovitch, 25, was an aspiring police officer who planned to set a wedding date with his girlfriend when he returned home this fall. He joined the Marine reserves in 2000, his uncle Paul Boskovitch said Tuesday.
"We got a lot of e-mail from him," Boskovitch said. "He felt he was making a difference there and that the Iraqi people were appreciative of what they were doing. He loved the Marines and he loved his unit."
08/03/05 11:17 EDT
(link to story and picture of Rock)
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/arti...03111809990022
How tragic and sad, with no end in sight.