Marine turned soldier was on his second tour of duty in Iraq

[thedrifter]

Marine turned soldier was on his second tour of duty in Iraq

By John Berhman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 6, 2004

ESCONDIDO – Army Spc. James "Jimmy" Beckstrand had just gotten married in September and was looking forward to completing his second tour of duty in Iraq in mid-April and being reunited with his wife.

But his unit, the 27th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Armored Division out of Baumholder, Germany, was given a four-month extension of duty.

Beckstrand, 27, of Escondido, and seven other soldiers from his unit were killed April 29 when their convoy was attacked and a car bomb exploded near them just south of Baghdad.

Born in Reno, Nev., but raised in Escondido since the third grade, Beckstrand attended North Broadway Elementary School and Rincon Middle School, and graduated from Escondido High School in 1995.

After graduation, he enlisted for four years in the Marine Corps. After taking about a year off as a civilian, he enlisted in the Army.

Close friends yesterday described Beckstrand as a fun-loving, warm and friendly person who reached out to others.

"I was new at Rincon Middle School and nobody was talking to me, and one day Jimmy came up to me and introduced himself and some of his friends, and we became best friends," Jeremy Kinder of Escondido recalled.

"He would come over and stay at our house almost every weekend," Kinder said. "He was like part of our family. I considered him to be like a brother. He called my mom 'Mom.' "

Beckstrand's parents were divorced years ago. His father, Lee Beckstrand of Escondido, could not be immediately reached for comment. An acquaintance said he was in Meadow, Utah, making arrangements for his son's burial there in a family plot. A memorial service there is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday.

Kinder said Beckstrand was close with his father, "but Jimmy liked to hang out with his friends."

The friends surfed, swam in the pool at Kinder's house, went to a local arcade "and stayed up late nights just talking, like guys do," Kinder said.

Kinder's mother, Joan Bridgman, said she helped arrange for a memorial service at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Escondido's Emmanuel Faith Community Church, 639 E. Felicita Ave.

"It was such a shock," Bridgman said. "He was a great kid. He was like part of our family. We took him on vacations and camping trips with us. Jimmy was a very patriotic boy, too. He was certainly a hero to us."

Bridgman said Beckstrand met his Italian-born wife, Marilena, in Clarksville, Tenn., where she worked in a hospital. Beckstrand had been stationed at nearby Fort Campbell in Kentucky.

"They came here for dinner when he was on leave for the Christmas holiday," Bridgman said.

The couple were living in Germany when Beckstrand was sent to Iraq at the start of the war there. He was sent back for a second deployment in December and then extended for duty.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...9-7m6beck.html

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Matthew E. Matula, U.S. Marine corporal




UNION-TRIBUNE
May 6, 2004

Age 20

Cpl. Matthew E. Matula wanted so much to hold his infant daughter after her birth, expected in August.


He and his wife, Julie, had decided to name her MacKenzie Marie.

The name goes well with Matula, the young Marine's mother, Toni, said in a telephone interview from the family home in Spicewood, Texas.

Matula had decided by the 10th or 11th grade that he wanted to go into the military, his mother said, and had chosen the Marines by his senior year at Marble Falls High School.

"The first thing he stressed when he enlisted," Toni Matula said, "was that his No. 1 job was to protect the country if there was war.

"He was proud to be a Marine, and we were proud of him," she said. "I do not regret his decision."

Matula, a field radio operator stationed at Camp Pendleton, was killed in action in the Anbar province of Iraq on April 9, the Marine Corps said.

He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.

Matula was on his second deployment to Iraq.

When he returned stateside last July, his parents met his fiancée for the first time. They had met in a store and were married shortly after his return.

At Christmas, he went home to hunt and fish with his dad.

The Matulas knew their adopted sons, biological brothers, were meant for them, the mother said, because their names, Matthew and Anthony, matched those of her husband, Matthew, and herself, Toni.

Each year, she said, the family celebrated their adoption date. "They were a gift to us – those two boys."

Matula's grandmother, Alice Macalik of Dallas, said, "I just have a lot of memories – good memories." She recalled how "Matty" had stayed with her after she had a stroke.

Memorial services were held recently at Camp Pendleton. Military services were in San Antonio, Texas.

– Lola Sherman

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...1m6matula.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

May 6, 2004
Ceremony held in memory of Marine killed in Iraq


Monument to stand at courthouse in honor of Pfc. Chris Mabry

The Associated Press

The organizer of a memorial service honoring a Lauderdale County native killed while fighting in Iraq says a monument honoring the fallen Marine will remain at the courthouse here.

Family, friends, former high school classmates and military personnel came to a service Tuesday in memory of Pfc. Chris Mabry. Organizer Willie Schanrock said Wednesday that more than 300 people attended, including a number of city and county officials.

"Everyone just came together," he said. "It was very moving, especially with the singing of Amazing Grace and The Star Spangled Banner."
Mabry, 19, a graduate of Clarkdale Attendance Center, was one of 12 Marines killed April 7 in the Sunni Muslim town of Ramadi, Iraq. He was the first Lauderdale County resident and one of at least 14 Mississippians killed in action in Iraq.

Frances Mabry, the Marine's grandmother who had custody of him since he was 4, said Tuesday's service was fitting.

"I have to get the hurt to heal, but I've got more help from the community than I could ask for," Frances Mabry said. "They have pulled together, and I have had support every time I have needed it."

The ceremony was organized by local businessman Willie Schanrock, manager of T.J.'s Menswear in downtown Meridian and a U.S. Navy veteran.

Burton-Coley Monument Co. of Meridian donated a marble marker inscribed with Mabry's name, the date he was born and the date he died. The Memory Tree Foundation donated a maple tree in Mabry's honor.

Former U.S. Rep. G.V. Sonny Montgomery, D-Miss., on hand for the service, said a community that salutes its fallen military personnel is a good community.

"When we honor our veterans, both alive and deceased, it makes a better community," Montgomery said. "Here, we stick with our veterans and their loved ones."

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pb...405060353/1002


Ellie


May They Rest In Peace