thedrifter
09-23-08, 08:28 AM
Family grieves for CNY Marine
Throop native wanted to enlist since childhood, his mother said. He leaves behind a wife and children.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
By John Stith
Staff writer
THROOP, NY -- When Jerry Bell Jr. was growing up in Throop, he knew what he wanted to be.
"He's wanted to be a Marine since he was 4 or 5," Bell's mom, Tammy, said, admitting she can't explain where her son got his love of the Marines. She only knows "he was always going to be a Marine."
Sgt. Jerome "Jerry" C. Bell Jr. died Sept. 19 in Bawka, Farah Province, Afghanistan. He was riding in the front seat of a Humvee that hit an improvised explosive device.
Bell's parents were in the sixth day of a seven-day Alaska cruise on Friday when they were notified by the Department of Defense of their son's death.
Bell married his high school sweetheart, the former Melissa Nowak, whom he met in 10th grade. They have three children, daughters Katrazyna, 9, and Taylor, 8, and a son, Jerry III, 3. They live in California.
On Monday afternoon, the American and Marine flags flew at half staff outside the Basswood Road home of Bell's parents, Jerry Sr. and Tammy Bell. The family looked through old photographs and greeted friends who arrived in a steady stream after hearing the news of Jerry Jr.'s death. Red, white and blue bunting was draped from the railing of the deck and small American flags fluttered from flower boxes hanging on the railing.
Bell was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Twentynine Palms, Calif. He had been deployed to Iraq twice -- in 2003 and 2007 -- before being sent in March on a security mission to the Farah province in southeastern Afghanistan with his battalion, a reinforced light infantry task force.
The unit's mission was to support combat troops and help train police officers, according to 1st Lt. Curtis Williamson, a public affairs officer with 1st Marine Division.
Williamson said Bell's unit was regularly involved in fights with al-Qaida and Taliban groups.
The Bells last talked with Jerry on Sept. 7, Grandparents Day. He told them he would return home by Dec. 1.
"He loved the Marines, but he loved his family, too," said his aunt, Jodi Morgenthaler, of Throop. "The Marines were No. 2."
Bell left the Marines when his daughters were old enough for school, Tammy Bell said. He re-enlisted.
"He missed it so much," she said. "He asked me if I minded if he went back in. He had enough respect to ask me if I minded. I knew he never wanted to get out. How do you tell a 27-year-old Marine, a married man, he didn't need his mother's permission?"
The Bells last saw their son in February, just before his unit shipped out.
Bell was the only Marine in a family full of U.S. Army soldiers. His sister, Stacey Bell Zimmerman, spent eight years in the Army, and cousins Joseph and Jesse Alcock and Joe Whiffen IV all are in the Army. Another cousin, Richard Gilbert, is in the Air Force.
Good-natured, intra-service rivalry spilled over at family gatherings.
"(Jerry) was the worst," said his uncle, Bill Whiffen, an Army veteran. "He trashed us."
Jerry Bell played football in high school and loved to hunt. He got his first deer while hunting in Ledyard.
"I can still see the grin on his face," Morgenthaler said.
Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES Superintendent William Speck said he remembered Bell as a good student who was in the construction trades program, particularly heavy equipment repair and operations.
"He was a really good kid, he did very well academically," Speck said. "He was a very good citizen for us. This is very sad."
Jerry Bell's body was flown to Dover, Del., and the family is awaiting word from the Department of Defense about its return home. His cousins, Richard Gilbert, Joe Whiffen IV and Jesse Alcock, will escort the body to Central New York.
Funeral arrangements, which will be handled by Cheche Funeral Home in Auburn, were incomplete
Ellie
Throop native wanted to enlist since childhood, his mother said. He leaves behind a wife and children.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
By John Stith
Staff writer
THROOP, NY -- When Jerry Bell Jr. was growing up in Throop, he knew what he wanted to be.
"He's wanted to be a Marine since he was 4 or 5," Bell's mom, Tammy, said, admitting she can't explain where her son got his love of the Marines. She only knows "he was always going to be a Marine."
Sgt. Jerome "Jerry" C. Bell Jr. died Sept. 19 in Bawka, Farah Province, Afghanistan. He was riding in the front seat of a Humvee that hit an improvised explosive device.
Bell's parents were in the sixth day of a seven-day Alaska cruise on Friday when they were notified by the Department of Defense of their son's death.
Bell married his high school sweetheart, the former Melissa Nowak, whom he met in 10th grade. They have three children, daughters Katrazyna, 9, and Taylor, 8, and a son, Jerry III, 3. They live in California.
On Monday afternoon, the American and Marine flags flew at half staff outside the Basswood Road home of Bell's parents, Jerry Sr. and Tammy Bell. The family looked through old photographs and greeted friends who arrived in a steady stream after hearing the news of Jerry Jr.'s death. Red, white and blue bunting was draped from the railing of the deck and small American flags fluttered from flower boxes hanging on the railing.
Bell was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Twentynine Palms, Calif. He had been deployed to Iraq twice -- in 2003 and 2007 -- before being sent in March on a security mission to the Farah province in southeastern Afghanistan with his battalion, a reinforced light infantry task force.
The unit's mission was to support combat troops and help train police officers, according to 1st Lt. Curtis Williamson, a public affairs officer with 1st Marine Division.
Williamson said Bell's unit was regularly involved in fights with al-Qaida and Taliban groups.
The Bells last talked with Jerry on Sept. 7, Grandparents Day. He told them he would return home by Dec. 1.
"He loved the Marines, but he loved his family, too," said his aunt, Jodi Morgenthaler, of Throop. "The Marines were No. 2."
Bell left the Marines when his daughters were old enough for school, Tammy Bell said. He re-enlisted.
"He missed it so much," she said. "He asked me if I minded if he went back in. He had enough respect to ask me if I minded. I knew he never wanted to get out. How do you tell a 27-year-old Marine, a married man, he didn't need his mother's permission?"
The Bells last saw their son in February, just before his unit shipped out.
Bell was the only Marine in a family full of U.S. Army soldiers. His sister, Stacey Bell Zimmerman, spent eight years in the Army, and cousins Joseph and Jesse Alcock and Joe Whiffen IV all are in the Army. Another cousin, Richard Gilbert, is in the Air Force.
Good-natured, intra-service rivalry spilled over at family gatherings.
"(Jerry) was the worst," said his uncle, Bill Whiffen, an Army veteran. "He trashed us."
Jerry Bell played football in high school and loved to hunt. He got his first deer while hunting in Ledyard.
"I can still see the grin on his face," Morgenthaler said.
Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES Superintendent William Speck said he remembered Bell as a good student who was in the construction trades program, particularly heavy equipment repair and operations.
"He was a really good kid, he did very well academically," Speck said. "He was a very good citizen for us. This is very sad."
Jerry Bell's body was flown to Dover, Del., and the family is awaiting word from the Department of Defense about its return home. His cousins, Richard Gilbert, Joe Whiffen IV and Jesse Alcock, will escort the body to Central New York.
Funeral arrangements, which will be handled by Cheche Funeral Home in Auburn, were incomplete
Ellie