Free Republic

<p>Marine Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Menusa, the former Tracy man killed in combat in Iraq, has been awarded U.S. citizenship.</p> <p>"We can bury him now," said his mother, Virginia Kenny of Tracy. "He's part of the U.S. now."</p> <p>She and other family members learned Friday that the government had granted posthumous citizenship to Menusa, who fought in both Persian Gulf wars.</p>

<p>SAN DIEGO - For seven years, Joseph Menusa tried to become a U.S. citizen, but it wasn't until the Marine was killed in Iraq that it finally happened.</p> <p>His wife doesn't think it should be that difficult for the 31,000 immigrants serving in the military to be awarded citizenship.</p>

Names of the four US Marines who died in yesterday's helicopter crash: Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, 36, of Waterville, Maine Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre, 30, of Bloomington, Ill. Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25, of Houston, Texas Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Watersbey, 29, of Baltimore, Md. The Pentagon has just released the names of two more US Marines who were killed in Iraq. I'll post as soon as I find that.