thedrifter
11-29-06, 01:48 PM
San Diego Native Killed By Iraqi Sniper
20-Year-Old Solider Enlisted At 17
UPDATED: 5:27 pm PST November 28, 2006
AGUANGA, Calif. -- Jeromy D. West wanted to join the Marines so badly that he couldn't wait until he was an adult.
At 17, he got his parents to sign papers allowing him to enlist.
The 20-year-old lance corporal died Saturday in combat in Iraq's Al Anbar province, the Pentagon said.
A sniper's bullet struck West on Saturday while he stood guard on a roof in western Iraq, killing him almost instantly, the San Diego Union Tribune reported Tuesday.
West was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force. He was stationed in Hawaii and served a tour in Afghanistan before being sent to Iraq Sept. 11.
American and Marine Corps flags decorated the front yard of his family home in his rural Riverside County town of about 6,000 near the San Diego County line.
West, formerly of Chula Vista, graduated from Hamilton High School in Anza.
"He wanted to be the one to take care of us. He tried to be the man of the house," said his mother, Lisa West.
Her son often e-mailed pictures of himself to her cell phone because she missed his face, she said.
He also is survived by his stepfather, Ron Klopf, and an 18-year-old sister, Brandi.
"He was just my hero," she told the Press-Enterprise of Riverside. "I couldn't have asked for a better brother."
Ellie
20-Year-Old Solider Enlisted At 17
UPDATED: 5:27 pm PST November 28, 2006
AGUANGA, Calif. -- Jeromy D. West wanted to join the Marines so badly that he couldn't wait until he was an adult.
At 17, he got his parents to sign papers allowing him to enlist.
The 20-year-old lance corporal died Saturday in combat in Iraq's Al Anbar province, the Pentagon said.
A sniper's bullet struck West on Saturday while he stood guard on a roof in western Iraq, killing him almost instantly, the San Diego Union Tribune reported Tuesday.
West was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force. He was stationed in Hawaii and served a tour in Afghanistan before being sent to Iraq Sept. 11.
American and Marine Corps flags decorated the front yard of his family home in his rural Riverside County town of about 6,000 near the San Diego County line.
West, formerly of Chula Vista, graduated from Hamilton High School in Anza.
"He wanted to be the one to take care of us. He tried to be the man of the house," said his mother, Lisa West.
Her son often e-mailed pictures of himself to her cell phone because she missed his face, she said.
He also is survived by his stepfather, Ron Klopf, and an 18-year-old sister, Brandi.
"He was just my hero," she told the Press-Enterprise of Riverside. "I couldn't have asked for a better brother."
Ellie