Marine Unit Honors Fallen Comrades

CAMP PENDLETON ---- The mother of a fallen Marine strained to peer over the crowd as a Marine hung dog tags on a makeshift memorial. The boots, the rifle and the helmet represented her son.

Later, Novelda Chavez found herself at the base of the memorial for her son, Lance Cpl. Steven M. Chavez, one of eight Marines from his Camp Pendleton battalion to die in Iraq during the group's last deployment.

She knelt there for a long while. Her quiet sobs rose, growing so loud she tried to muffle them by pressing her face into her kneeling husband's chest. The two of them stood, and she reached out and caressed the swaying dog tags. She ran her hand lovingly over the boots.

She covered her mouth. Her face twisted in anguish. She, her husband, Eddie, and son Jaime fell into each other's arms, sobbing.

Moments later, the mother from New Mexico stared at a sketch of her son at the base of the memorial.

"I miss him," Chavez whispered through a sob as a Marine officer stood with his arm wrapped around her.

Lance Cpl. Chavez was part of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 5th Marine Regiment, which returned home to Camp Pendleton from Iraq's volatile Anbar province a little more than two weeks ago. A memorial service honored the unit's fallen comrades in a somber ceremony at the base Friday afternoon.

Eight traditional makeshift memorials ---- boots, rifles and helmets ---- lined the parade deck. Behind them stood companies of the Marines who called the fallen brothers.

Not far from Chavez's family stood another from New Mexico, also there to honor a fallen relative. Dressed in the traditional American Indian garb of their tribe, dozens of Lance Cpl. Emilian D. Sanchez's relatives lined up to approach his memorial.

Sometimes alone and sometimes in twos or threes, Sanchez's siblings and cousins, aunts and uncles, slowly approached and sprinkled a grayish substance around his boots.

"It's an offering, a blessing for his spirit," said Sanchez's older brother Joey.

As he spoke, his sister stood near the memorial, crying and clutching a piece of pottery.

Cpl. Daniel A. Murillo, who once called 21-year-old Sanchez his roommate, said his friend carried eagle feathers with him to Iraq.

"He hid them away, but then he always showed them off," Murillo said. "He was so proud of his culture."

The 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines ---- commonly known as the 2/4 ---- set sail aboard a Navy ship in September. The battalion served as the landing team for the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. About a month later, they found themselves heading to Iraq.

In February, a Camp Pendleton spokesman confirmed that the battalion was one of two Camp Pendleton-based units affected by President Bush's decision to increase American force levels in Iraq. The 2/4 was tapped to stay in the war zone an additional few weeks.

Speaking to the families of the fallen as he stood in front of the battalion he commands, Lt. Col. Jim Glynn offered words of comfort.

"Your Marine ... did not die alone," Glynn said. "He was surrounded daily by the brothers who stand before you today."

The first death for the battalion came Dec. 6. Cpl. Dustin Libby, 22, died during combat operations. Six weeks later, two of the battalion's men died on the same day. Both Sanchez and Lance Cpl. Andrew G. Matus, 19, were killed Jan. 21 during combat in Rutbah, Iraq.

Less than a week later, on Jan. 27, Lance Cpl. Anthony C. Melia died in combat in Ramadi. He was 20, and less than two years removed from playing high school football in his native Thousand Oaks.

Days after that, on Feb. 1, Cpl. Richard O. Quill III, died in Barwana, Iraq. He was 22.

Sgt. Major Joseph J. Ellis, a career Marine who had served in the Middle East during the Gulf War, was killed Feb. 7, while the 40-year-old was on a combat patrol in Barwana.

Sgt. Clinton W. Ahlquist was 23 when he died less than two weeks later, on Feb. 20, during combat in Ramadi.

On March 14, Chavez was killed in a noncombat-related incident in the same city.

Lance Cpl. Matthew Richard formed a close friendship with Chavez, who shared his love of rock music.

"He was more of a brother than a friend," Richard said. He laughed as he recalled a story of Chavez while in Iraq. "He was covered in (waste)water up to his chest. He walked up and just said 'I hate this.' "

"We hated it together and we helped each other through it together," Richard said.

The battalion came home May 30.

After the service, and with most of the families gone from the parade deck, Chavez's little brother Jaime stood at his memorial. The 11-year-old boy, who moments earlier had glided on the concrete with sneakers that hid skate wheels in the soles, moved in close.

He draped his arm around the gun, just below the helmet.

It was clear. He was putting his arm around his big brother's shoulders.

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 631-6624 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com

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