thedrifter
04-03-08, 09:03 AM
REGION: Marine officer killed in Iraq
By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
A Marine major attached to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station has died in combat in Iraq's Anbar province, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.
Maj. William "Billy" G. Hall of Temecula died Sunday of injuries suffered in a roadside bomb explosion Saturday, according to family members and Maj. Jason Johnston, a spokesman at Miramar.
Hall, 38, a Seattle native, was a member of the 3rd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion.
He was based at Camp Pendleton as part of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, which is now providing security in the sprawling Anbar province west of Baghdad and along the border with Jordan and Syria.
Hall's death is the first for a Camp Pendleton-based Marine since Oct. 8, when Lance Cpl. Jeremy Burris of Tacoma, Wash., died in combat in Anbar.
Although a member of an air defense battalion, Hall was working on a transition team training Iraqi forces when he was killed. Further information about the bombing was not available.
The unit he normally served with was due back at Camp Pendleton this week following a seven-month deployment in Djibouti, Africa, where it served as a security force and conducted several civil affairs operations.
Outside the family home in southern Temecula, a flag flew at half staff and a box of flowers was left at the front door. No one appeared to be home.
In an article in the Seattle Times newspaper, Hall's sister, Dolores Perry, said her brother was an outgoing man who had a way of striking up conversations with anyone near him.
"He could be having a conversation with me and then my 10-year-old niece could walk in the room and he'd capture her like he'd just captured me," Perry was quoted as saying. "He could talk to anyone ---- from the minister to a drug addict. He was just that kind of person."
Before deploying for Iraq in mid-February, Hall was selected for promotion to lieutenant colonel, said Miramar's Johnston, who knew the slain Marine officer.
In an e-mail to his family shortly before his death, the Seattle newspaper reported, Hall discussed his experiences in Iraq.
"I know most of what you hear on the news about Iraq is not usually good news and that so many are dying over here," he wrote. "That is true to an extent but it does not paint the total picture and violence is not everywhere throughout the country. So please don't associate what you see on the news with all of Iraq."
Hall's wife, Xiomara, lives in Temecula as do his children, daughters Tatianna, 6, and Gladys, 3; and stepsons Xavier, 13, and Xander, 9.
He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, according to the Seattle newspaper.
Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, 331 Camp Pendleton-based Marines and sailors have been killed in Iraq. Ten Miramar-based troops have been killed in the war.
About 25,000 locally based Marines and sailors are serving in Iraq this year under the banner of the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie
By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
A Marine major attached to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station has died in combat in Iraq's Anbar province, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.
Maj. William "Billy" G. Hall of Temecula died Sunday of injuries suffered in a roadside bomb explosion Saturday, according to family members and Maj. Jason Johnston, a spokesman at Miramar.
Hall, 38, a Seattle native, was a member of the 3rd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion.
He was based at Camp Pendleton as part of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, which is now providing security in the sprawling Anbar province west of Baghdad and along the border with Jordan and Syria.
Hall's death is the first for a Camp Pendleton-based Marine since Oct. 8, when Lance Cpl. Jeremy Burris of Tacoma, Wash., died in combat in Anbar.
Although a member of an air defense battalion, Hall was working on a transition team training Iraqi forces when he was killed. Further information about the bombing was not available.
The unit he normally served with was due back at Camp Pendleton this week following a seven-month deployment in Djibouti, Africa, where it served as a security force and conducted several civil affairs operations.
Outside the family home in southern Temecula, a flag flew at half staff and a box of flowers was left at the front door. No one appeared to be home.
In an article in the Seattle Times newspaper, Hall's sister, Dolores Perry, said her brother was an outgoing man who had a way of striking up conversations with anyone near him.
"He could be having a conversation with me and then my 10-year-old niece could walk in the room and he'd capture her like he'd just captured me," Perry was quoted as saying. "He could talk to anyone ---- from the minister to a drug addict. He was just that kind of person."
Before deploying for Iraq in mid-February, Hall was selected for promotion to lieutenant colonel, said Miramar's Johnston, who knew the slain Marine officer.
In an e-mail to his family shortly before his death, the Seattle newspaper reported, Hall discussed his experiences in Iraq.
"I know most of what you hear on the news about Iraq is not usually good news and that so many are dying over here," he wrote. "That is true to an extent but it does not paint the total picture and violence is not everywhere throughout the country. So please don't associate what you see on the news with all of Iraq."
Hall's wife, Xiomara, lives in Temecula as do his children, daughters Tatianna, 6, and Gladys, 3; and stepsons Xavier, 13, and Xander, 9.
He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, according to the Seattle newspaper.
Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, 331 Camp Pendleton-based Marines and sailors have been killed in Iraq. Ten Miramar-based troops have been killed in the war.
About 25,000 locally based Marines and sailors are serving in Iraq this year under the banner of the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie