Marine’s body found in Iraq

April 14, 2006
Marine’s body found in Iraq

By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer

The family of a Wisconsin Marine who went missing in a flash flood in Iraq will be able to lay him to rest.

The body of Lance Cpl. Eric A. Palmisano, 27, of Florence, Wis., was found April 11 after a nine-day search, Marine Corps officials said April 13.


Palmisano, a logistics vehicle system operator, died April 2 after the seven-ton utility truck he was riding in rolled during a flash flood near Al Asad air base, west of Baghdad. It’s unclear whether Palmisano was driving the truck at the time.

He was assigned to 1st Transportation Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group based at Camp Pendleton. He enlisted in the Marine Corps on March 15, 2005 and had received the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal, according to the Camp Pendleton public affairs office.

A sailor, Petty Officer 3rd Class Marcques J. Nettles, 22, of Beaverton, Ore., is still missing as of April 13. Pentagon officials have listed him as “duty status-whereabouts unknown” and said that the search for him continues.

Six other Marines died in the incident:

• Staff Sgt. Abraham G. Twitchell, 28, of Yelm, Wash.;

• Cpl. Andres Aguilar Jr., 21, of Victoria, Texas, who was a communications technician;

• Cpl. David A. Bass, 20, of Davidson, Texas, a disburser;

• Cpl. Brian R. St. Germain, 22, from Kent, R.I., who was an engineer equipment mechanic;

• Lance Cpl. Patrick J. Gallagher, 27, of Duval, Fla., an engineer equipment operator;

• Lance Cpl. Felipe D. Sandoval-Flores, 20, of Los Angeles, an organizational automotive mechanic.

Ellie