thedrifter
07-10-07, 08:04 AM
Tue July 10, 2007
Harrah loses Marine
By John Greiner
Capitol Bureau
An Oklahoma Marine who wanted to be in the military since boyhood died Thursday in Iraq, his family said Monday.
Marine Cpl. Jeremy Allbaugh, 21, a Harrah High School graduate, was killed when the Humvee in which he was riding struck a roadside bomb in the Anbar province of Iraq, his family said.
"He believed very strongly in what our country's doing, and we had just talked to him Tuesday,” his mother, Jenifer Allbaugh, said from the family's home in Whitehouse, Texas.
Allbaugh is the first member of his Marine battalion to die in combat in Iraq, she said.
Two other Marines were seriously hurt in the explosion, she said.
Her son and the two other Marines were in the lead Humvee, she said.
The unit had been in Iraq about four months, his family said.
‘Doing good things'
He had been in the Marine Corps for three years.
"They were doing good things over there, and we don't see that in the news media. There's a lot of progress being made,” she said. "I wish more people would talk to our boys who are in it and not our politicians because they see it first hand. They're building schools and hospitals.
"I asked him how the Iraqi people treated them, and he said, ‘They love us because we're helping them.'”
She said the area where her son was killed was pretty secure.
He was a member of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, she said.
"It was just an act of madness,” she said of the terrorists' roadside bomb.
‘Always there for you'
Allbaugh is the nephew of Joe Allbaugh, a business consultant and former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency during President Bush's first term in office. Joe Allbaugh also was President Bush's campaign manager in the 2000 presidential race.
Army 2nd Lt. Jason Allbaugh, who is in the Army and stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, said his brother "always wanted to be in the military since I can remember. It's something he wanted.”
"He dressed in fatigues when he was a little boy,” Jenifer Allbaugh added.
The Allbaughs notified some of Jeremy Allbaugh's closest high school friends in Harrah last week after they were contacted about his death.
"He was always there for you, no matter what,” said Kyle Burnette, one of Allbaugh's boyhood friends.
They played baseball together at Harrah High School.
Johnny Young, another friend, said Allbaugh was like family.
"His parents are my parents. My parents are his parents,” Young said. "I talked to his mom two weeks before it happened.”
Young also played baseball with Allbaugh.
"He was the best friend anyone could ever have. He was a great guy. He was like a brother,” Young said.
Funeral services are pending with Roberts and Son Funeral Home in Blackwell.
Besides his mother and brother, other survivors are his father, Jon Allbaugh; another brother, Bryan Allbaugh, of Fort Worth, Texas; and a sister, Alicia Allbaugh of Whitehouse.
Ellie
Harrah loses Marine
By John Greiner
Capitol Bureau
An Oklahoma Marine who wanted to be in the military since boyhood died Thursday in Iraq, his family said Monday.
Marine Cpl. Jeremy Allbaugh, 21, a Harrah High School graduate, was killed when the Humvee in which he was riding struck a roadside bomb in the Anbar province of Iraq, his family said.
"He believed very strongly in what our country's doing, and we had just talked to him Tuesday,” his mother, Jenifer Allbaugh, said from the family's home in Whitehouse, Texas.
Allbaugh is the first member of his Marine battalion to die in combat in Iraq, she said.
Two other Marines were seriously hurt in the explosion, she said.
Her son and the two other Marines were in the lead Humvee, she said.
The unit had been in Iraq about four months, his family said.
‘Doing good things'
He had been in the Marine Corps for three years.
"They were doing good things over there, and we don't see that in the news media. There's a lot of progress being made,” she said. "I wish more people would talk to our boys who are in it and not our politicians because they see it first hand. They're building schools and hospitals.
"I asked him how the Iraqi people treated them, and he said, ‘They love us because we're helping them.'”
She said the area where her son was killed was pretty secure.
He was a member of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, she said.
"It was just an act of madness,” she said of the terrorists' roadside bomb.
‘Always there for you'
Allbaugh is the nephew of Joe Allbaugh, a business consultant and former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency during President Bush's first term in office. Joe Allbaugh also was President Bush's campaign manager in the 2000 presidential race.
Army 2nd Lt. Jason Allbaugh, who is in the Army and stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, said his brother "always wanted to be in the military since I can remember. It's something he wanted.”
"He dressed in fatigues when he was a little boy,” Jenifer Allbaugh added.
The Allbaughs notified some of Jeremy Allbaugh's closest high school friends in Harrah last week after they were contacted about his death.
"He was always there for you, no matter what,” said Kyle Burnette, one of Allbaugh's boyhood friends.
They played baseball together at Harrah High School.
Johnny Young, another friend, said Allbaugh was like family.
"His parents are my parents. My parents are his parents,” Young said. "I talked to his mom two weeks before it happened.”
Young also played baseball with Allbaugh.
"He was the best friend anyone could ever have. He was a great guy. He was like a brother,” Young said.
Funeral services are pending with Roberts and Son Funeral Home in Blackwell.
Besides his mother and brother, other survivors are his father, Jon Allbaugh; another brother, Bryan Allbaugh, of Fort Worth, Texas; and a sister, Alicia Allbaugh of Whitehouse.
Ellie