thedrifter
01-08-09, 06:33 AM
January 8, 2009
Hendersonville's Cassada 'loved being a Marine'
By John Boyle
Jessie Adam Cassada wanted to become a Marine more than anything in life.
“He loved being a Marine,” said Cameron Sproles, Cassada's best friend. “He always wanted to be a Marine — since he was a kid. Some of his family was in the Marine Corps, and he just wanted to serve his country.”
Cassada, 19, died Tuesday in combat in Afghanistan, where he had deployed in November. He joined the Marines after graduating from East Henderson High School in 2007.
A Department of Defense news release Wednesday stated: “Lance Cpl. Jessie A. Cassada, 19, of Hendersonville, N.C., died Jan. 6 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.”
Cassada was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division based in Camp Lejeune. He had gone through training as an infantryman and deployed to Afghanistan for a six- to seven-month tour of duty.
A former teacher of Cassada's at East Henderson, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Robert Clark, remembered Cassada as a young man absolutely determined to join the Marine Corps. Clark, a teacher in the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, had Cassada in his aerospace science course for a year.
“No other branch of service was going to satisfy him,” Clark said. “It was hard for him to finish his education, but he did it because he was determined to get in the Marine Corps.”
The last time Clark saw him was December 2007, when Cassada came to a school event with the Marine recruiters, decked out in his uniform and obviously proud of himself.
Cassada is survived by his mother, Patricia Cassada, and stepfather, Carroll London, as well as sisters Lisa, 15, and Crystal, 18. The family declined to be interviewed.
Sproles said Cassada wanted to serve his country in Afghanistan and fight terrorists. The resurgent Taliban has regained its foothold in some parts of the country.
“He wanted to go and protect his country,” Sproles said.
More American troops — 151 — died in Afghanistan in 2008 than in any other year since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban, according to an Associated Press count. As of Monday, at least 559 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. In Iraq, at least 4,221 members of the U.S. military have died since the invasion in March 2003.
Sproles and other friends have created a memorial page for Cassada on the social networking Web site Facebook.
Cassada loved the outdoors and hunting and fishing, as well as football and swimming. Sproles described his friend as “a very strong guy, morally and physically.”
“He told me when he did go on to a better place, he wanted to be remembered as living with no regrets,” Sproles said.
Ellie
Hendersonville's Cassada 'loved being a Marine'
By John Boyle
Jessie Adam Cassada wanted to become a Marine more than anything in life.
“He loved being a Marine,” said Cameron Sproles, Cassada's best friend. “He always wanted to be a Marine — since he was a kid. Some of his family was in the Marine Corps, and he just wanted to serve his country.”
Cassada, 19, died Tuesday in combat in Afghanistan, where he had deployed in November. He joined the Marines after graduating from East Henderson High School in 2007.
A Department of Defense news release Wednesday stated: “Lance Cpl. Jessie A. Cassada, 19, of Hendersonville, N.C., died Jan. 6 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.”
Cassada was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division based in Camp Lejeune. He had gone through training as an infantryman and deployed to Afghanistan for a six- to seven-month tour of duty.
A former teacher of Cassada's at East Henderson, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Robert Clark, remembered Cassada as a young man absolutely determined to join the Marine Corps. Clark, a teacher in the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, had Cassada in his aerospace science course for a year.
“No other branch of service was going to satisfy him,” Clark said. “It was hard for him to finish his education, but he did it because he was determined to get in the Marine Corps.”
The last time Clark saw him was December 2007, when Cassada came to a school event with the Marine recruiters, decked out in his uniform and obviously proud of himself.
Cassada is survived by his mother, Patricia Cassada, and stepfather, Carroll London, as well as sisters Lisa, 15, and Crystal, 18. The family declined to be interviewed.
Sproles said Cassada wanted to serve his country in Afghanistan and fight terrorists. The resurgent Taliban has regained its foothold in some parts of the country.
“He wanted to go and protect his country,” Sproles said.
More American troops — 151 — died in Afghanistan in 2008 than in any other year since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban, according to an Associated Press count. As of Monday, at least 559 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. In Iraq, at least 4,221 members of the U.S. military have died since the invasion in March 2003.
Sproles and other friends have created a memorial page for Cassada on the social networking Web site Facebook.
Cassada loved the outdoors and hunting and fishing, as well as football and swimming. Sproles described his friend as “a very strong guy, morally and physically.”
“He told me when he did go on to a better place, he wanted to be remembered as living with no regrets,” Sproles said.
Ellie