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thedrifter
02-09-07, 05:40 AM
Troops Shared Firm Belief in Iraq Service
Navy Medic, Marine Pleaded to Return; Other Marine Followed Brother's Path

By Mary Otto and Fredrick Kunkle
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, February 9, 2007; A13

One was a Navy medic, the other a Marine sergeant. Both begged to go back to Iraq for another tour of duty. A third followed her brother into the Marine Corps and, eventually, into the war.

All three died this week as stepped-up security operations intensified fighting.

Seaman Manuel Ruiz, 21, from Maryland's Eastern Shore was among seven people killed when a Marine transport helicopter crashed in Anbar province Wednesday, his family said.

Marine Sgt. Joshua J. Frazier, 24, from Virginia's Spotsylvania County was killed by a sniper Monday as he stood on a rooftop in Ramadi, the Pentagon and his family said yesterday.

And Marine Cpl. Jennifer M. Parcell, 20, of Bel Air, Md., died Wednesday in Anbar province in what the Defense Department described as "supporting combat operations."

In Ruiz's hometown of Federalsburg, a farm community of 2,600, friends and neighbors tied red, white and blue ribbons to lampposts yesterday, and officials made plans to lower flags in his honor. But the gestures seemed inadequate.

"Our hearts are broken," said Connie Blanchard, who works in the town hall accounting office. "He was a very brave and courageous guy."

Ruiz, whose mother, Lisa, also served in the Navy, was 14 days into his second tour in Iraq when he died, said Adam Lusk, a family friend who fought back tears as he described Ruiz's dedication to his job, helping to save lives. "He pretty much demanded to go back."

In a small town where young people often seek the military life as a way to broaden their horizons, Ruiz also stood out as a talented and sensitive artist, said Marjorie Scott, who was Ruiz's art teacher during his four years at Colonel Richardson High School. When he was back from his first tour, Ruiz visited the school in his Navy uniform.

"Any time he talked about the military, his eyes glistened," she said. She said she had worried about him, but he assured her that he was fulfilling his calling. He was assigned to Camp Lejeune, N.C.

"He was well-trained, and he loved what he was doing," Scott said.

Likewise, Frazier believed so deeply in his mission in Iraq that he ignored pleas from his family and begged, pleaded and knocked on doors to get the Marines to send him back to Iraq. It was his third time in combat after previous tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He enlisted in the military because of the 2001 terrorist attacks and had recently been promoted to sergeant, his family said.

His elder stepbrother, Aaron Mallin, said Frazier's devotion to the cause was matched by a lifelong interest in stepping in to look after others.

When he was 18, he came home with a black eye. When his brother asked where the shiner had come from, Frazier said he had stepped into a quarrel when he'd seen a man hit a woman.

At home, he looked after his maternal grandmother, Elaine Tate, whom everyone knew as Meemaw. If she needed wood chopped, he did it. If her gutters were clogged, he cleaned them. When the nation was attacked, he felt he had to go.

"He is my little brother, and I idolized him," Mallin said. "It's supposed to be the other way around."

Frazier wanted to be a police officer after graduating from high school, but after Sept. 11, he decided he was going to join the Marines, Mallin said. His mother, Shelia Cutshall, tried to talk him out of it. So did Mallin. They told him not to make a rash decision in anger. They told him to wait a year.

Ten months later, Frazier told them he was still determined to become a Marine. His elder brother, who works for a defense contractor, also tried to persuade his brother to pursue jobs with the Marines that might reduce the risks of combat. But that was not for him.

"He wanted to be an infantryman. He wanted to be a grunt," Mallin said. In telephone calls and notes from Iraq, he expressed concern about the men in his unit with wives and children. "You got the sense that if he could, he would send them home," Mallin said. "He really was quite honorable and passionate about what he did."

Mallin said his younger brother was "fed up" by the mounting doubts expressed back home. After returning from a seven-month tour in April, he began lobbying to go back.

"He begged. He pleaded. He asked for transfers," Mallin said. "Everybody in the family wanted to talk him out of it. But they knew they couldn't."

His family said Frazier asked to be buried near family. A private funeral is to be held at the Montague Baptist Church in Dogue.

Mourners at Parcell's home yesterday declined to be quoted but remembered her as a loving and motivated woman who joined the Marines in 2005, following the path of her older brother Joseph.

The two served together in Iraq briefly before their assignments separated them. Joseph is returning from his tour to be with the family, people at the home said.

Parcell served with the Marine Expeditionary Force based in Okinawa, Japan.

Staff researcher Eddy Palanzo contributed to this report.

Ellie