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thedrifter
08-08-07, 07:30 AM
Ft. Dodge Marine is killed in Iraq
Jon Bonnell Jr. stepped on a roadside bomb while on his second tour of duty.

By ABBY SIMONS and EARLESHA BUTLER
REGISTER STAFF WRITERS

August 8, 2007

J.J. Bonnell's grandmother asked him over the telephone three weeks ago to describe his second tour of duty in Iraq.

"He said his job was looking for bombs, and I said that's very dangerous," Donna Bonnell said. "He said, 'Grandma, that's my job.' I said, 'Watch your back,' and he said, 'We all watch everybody's back.' "

Sgt. Jon Bonnell Jr., a U.S. Marine from Fort Dodge who loved the pitcher's mound, Chris Farley movies and the Corps, was killed Monday in Iraq when he stepped on a roadside bomb while on duty between Baghdad and Fallujah.

The 22-year-old enlisted in the Marines before he graduated high school in 2003 and was on a quick climb up the leadership ladder, relatives said Tuesday.

His father, Jon Bonnell Sr., was notified of his only son's death early Tuesday. He's been in a state of shock, he said, since he answered the front door of the Bonnells' Fort Dodge home to see two uniformed Marines.

"I asked them if he was gone, and they didn't answer," he said.

Bonnell Jr. was in Anbar province when he was killed, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Bonnell was the 59th person with Iowa ties to die in the war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan since March 2003. As of Tuesday, at least 3,679 members of the U.S. military had died since the beginning of the Iraq war, according to an Associated Press count.

Bonnell Sr. said J.J. was the second-youngest of four children ages 13 to 28. Though Bonnell loved his country, he also loved to see the world and took the most pride in his effort to assist victims of the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia after his first tour in Iraq. He left again on Memorial Day, and while proud, his father wasn't happy.

"I figured he had done it one time already," Bonnell Sr. said.

Bonnell Jr. picked up where he left off, on bomb detection duty.

"He had made it through doing the one job I wouldn't want him to do," his father said. "It scared me on the second time, but I'm a proud father knowing he was doing the job he was trained to do: Be a good Marine."

Bonnell was an honorable mention all-conference baseball player his senior year at Fort Dodge High School. He was fiercely competitive, yet loyal, friends said.

High school classmate and teammate Brian Courtney, now of Waterloo, said the two remained in contact.

"He was a great person. He always put other people first," Courtney said.

The two played baseball together from the sixth grade through graduation in 2003.

"We were good buddies," Courtney said. "It hasn't hit me yet; I don't think it will until I'm at the service. I left work early this morning so I could let my emotions out."

Bonnell Sr. took some solace from his son's sense of humor, honed by their favorite movie, "Tommy Boy."

"We would watch that movie over and over," Bonnell Sr. said. "Chris Farley was his favorite comedian. He had a tear running down when Farley died. I remember that. He couldn't believe it."

Funeral services for Bonnell will probably be held at First Christian Church in Fort Dodge, his grandmother said.

When asked whether her grandson would think himself a hero, she said it's unlikely.

"I imagine he thought they were all heroes," she said.

Reporter Abby Simons can be reached at (515) 284-8136 or asimons@dmreg.com

Ellie

marinegreen
08-11-07, 09:18 AM
Streets of Ft. Dodge to be lined with Flags for burial of local hometown hero K.I.A. on Monday, 8/13/2007, hopefully the farmtown hicks will be lining the street curbs paying respects to this young man who gave his life to his country. R.I.P. young warrior !!!!!

thedrifter
08-14-07, 06:26 AM
'Fort Dodge hero' loved job in Iraq
Marine Sgt. Jon 'J.J.' Bonnell, who talked of risk, is buried

By LISA ROSSI
REGISTER AMES BUREAU

August 14, 2007

Fort Dodge, Ia. - Sgt. Jon Bonnell Jr. lived life to the hilt, loved baseball, and knew he was in danger of dying on his second tour to Iraq.

Stories like that spilled out at his funeral Monday, held at Fort Dodge Senior High School.

Bonnell, 22, a U.S. Marine from Fort Dodge, was killed Aug. 6 in Iraq when he stepped on a roadside bomb while on duty between Baghdad and Fallujah.

Family and clergy talked about the exuberance with which Bonnell, known by family as "J.J.," lived his life, an energy that followed him into the battlefields of Iraq, where he said he was doing a job he loved even if it concerned his family.

"He loved doing what he did, and he gave the ultimate sacrifice, and what really got me: He was ready for it," Bonnell's uncle, Mark Bonnell of Boone, said after the funeral. "He said he was ready for the ultimate sacrifice."

The Rev. Bill Kerns of First Christian Church in Fort Dodge described J.J. Bonnell as artistic and athletic and a fun-loving person who saw horrible things cleaning up wreckage from the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia and serving in the war in Iraq.

Mark Bonnell said his nephew talked about his readiness to die when he was deployed to Iraq for a second time.

He left for that tour on Memorial Day. He was scheduled to return to the United States in October.

"And that's coming from a 22-year-old. Man, it's hard to believe," Mark Bonnell said. "He's seen more in his 22 years than most people have seen in a lifetime. Not all bad - he saw good - but he saw some bad things too."

Mark Bonnell said neither he nor Jon Bonnell Sr., the Marine's father, heard much about Iraq when Jon Bonnell Jr. came home on leave.

"I think he just kind of held it into himself," he said. "My brother never really said he talked about it."

Bonnell's readiness for death was also chronicled in his last letter to his mother. His older sister, Tasha Rork of Fort Dodge, read the letter he wrote to his mother while in Iraq. It was dated July 6, 2007.

He wrote that two days earlier, the Fourth of July, he had spent his day driving around looking for roadside bombs, Rork said.

"J.J. says, 'Everyone is prepared to make an ultimate sacrifice,' " Rork read. "I know you don't like me being here, but I love this job. As long as I'm having fun, my mind is good." Bonnell ended the letter with this: "I hope everything is good with the 'fam.' I know, as good as it can be. Tell Terry I'm ready for some real BBQ. Love you, Mom. Your son, Jon."

Bonnell died a month later, on Aug. 6. "We are so proud of you," Rork said after reading the letter, choked up and almost crying. "We love you, and you will be forever missed."

Bonnell is the 59th person with Iowa ties to die since March 2003 in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of Monday, at least 3,691 members of the U.S. military had died in Iraq since the beginning of the war there, according to an Associated Press count.

More than 600 people attended Bonnell's funeral.

Flags lined the streets on the way to the service. Inside, a series of handmade signs taped on the high school walls read "J.J. Bonnell Fort Dodge Hero" and "Till we meet again, we love you."

A slide show of photos of Bonnell was played at the service. It flashed pictures of him as a wide-smiling little boy growing up, as a baseball-wielding adolescent, and as a man in Iraq clutching a gun.

Five Marines in uniform stood up in the middle of the sitting crowd during the presentation and wiped their eyes with their white gloves.

"J.J. was not particularly religious, yet as far as I am concerned, he understood what God expected of us," Kerns said near the end of the service. "J.J. lived - as you saw the video and for those of you who knew him - J.J. lived life to the hilt and shared God's love to those who needed it.

"Above everything else, we will remember J.J. for his unselfishness. ... I don't care if you oppose the war. I don't care if you support the war. We are all proud of J.J."

Reporter Lisa Rossi can be reached at (515) 232-2383 or lrossi@dmreg.com

Ellie