Three Camp Pendleton Marines killed in western Iraq

NC TIMES ^ | November 17, 2005 | DARRIN MORTENSON

[Dubya]

CAMP PENDLETON ---- Two Marines were killed in a bombing in the small Iraqi town of Ubaydi on Monday. Another fell in small-arms fire the same day.

And at least five more Marines whose names have not been released died in a blast as they rushed a house in the same town Wednesday.

Among the confirmed casualties from Camp Pendleton was Maj. Ray Mendoza Jr., 37, of Columbus, Ohio, Echo Company commander for the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment.

Eight Marines in all, at least three of them from Camp Pendleton, have been killed this week in fresh fighting in Ubaydi. The town is the latest of a string of settlements along the Euphrates River near the Syrian border that U.S. Marines have attacked since Nov. 5 in an offensive they call Operation Steel Curtain.

Mendoza, who was on his third tour in Iraq, and Lance Cpl. Christopher M. McCrackin, 20, of Liverpool, Texas, were both killed by an improvised bomb Monday as the Marines began their push on Ubaydi.

Cpl. John Longoria, 21, of Nixon, Texas, from the same battalion, died Monday of wounds from small-arms fire, according to a military statement released Wednesday morning.

Their families could not be reached Wednesday.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the five Marines killed Wednesday were also from Camp Pendleton. The military would not confirm that report.

The 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, is the main ground force of Pendleton's 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which departed San Diego last summer and arrived in Iraq in mid-October.

In Fallujah last year, Mendoza, a former Ohio State wrestler and then Marine captain, led the battalion's Headquarters Company. The unit did everything from guarding a camp and detention center outside the city to ferrying ammunition and supplies to Marines in the city in dangerous convoys that often came under attack by ambushes and bombs.

Contact staff writer Darrin Mortenson at (760) 740-5442 or dmortenson@nctimes.com.

[Siena Dreaming]

Prayers going up for the families.

[Dubya]

Good for you thanks.

[Dubya]

Soldier rest, Gently pressed,
To the calm, Mother Earth's
Waiting breast;
Duty done, Like the sun:
Going West.

[MNJohnnie]

Thank you for your sacrafise. Go with God.

Thomas Paine. "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands now, deserves the thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated."

[jettester]

My prayers are with those wounded and all of the affected families. Our church is pretty close to Pendelton so we get many of the Marines in our services. The small group I lead has three Marines and all of them talk about being fatigued. I was getting my car fixed yesterday and ran into an infantryman who is getting out next week after being in for eight. Please keep all of these great men and women in your prayers - especially through the holiday seasons coming up.

[Dog]

Can you please ping others from Ohio.....the Marine Major was from your fine state.

God rest their souls.

[Dog]

Can you please post the flag.

[RicocheT]

News like this make us all get a lump in our throats. The loss of these brave and tough Marines is hard to take. May God bless their souls and bless the families left without these heroes.

Iraq is going to produce an image as awe inspiring as the flag going up at Iwo. Our Marines in Iraq are raising the flags of democracy and freedom every day over there.

[AntiGuv]

[Dog]

Thank you.

[DrDeb]

Thank you for the ping . . . Prayers up for these courageous heroes and their families!

[stickandrudder]

Chris McCrackin was a wonderful boy. My son and Chris, and his twin, were in JROTC together. The twins used to come to my house and play paintball with a whole group of boys. Very polite and well mannered. Really loved the "fruit smoothies" my wife would make for him. "Yes mamm/sir", "No mamm/sir" were built into his speech. Our son spent all of Tuesday at his house, as soon as he found out. It was announced in the high school, and all that knew him went to the house for a "Rememberance" gathering. He was built like you think of Marines being built. He will be missed.

[Dubya]

Thanks for the information. So sad to see these Marines killed.
SEMPER FI

[stickandrudder]

Chris' twin brother is in the Navy. They went in right out of high school, 2004. Went to boot camp within ten days of each other. After boot camp Chris came home and married his high school sweetheart, Natalie. They have a 10 month old son, Ethan. More stories about Chris in "The Houston Chronicle", www.chron.com/ "The Angleton Facts", www.thefacts.com/ "The Brownsville Herald", www.brownsvilleherald.com/ (the twins were born there, but then the family moved to Houston area)

This one hits way to close to home

[JWojack]

Please notice that all these news reports first report who was killed - and then what the military was trying to accomplish. As though our deaths, as sad as thry are, are more important than our accomplishments! We liberated Ubaydi! That should be the headline.

[ohioWfan]

Prayers for the families of these brave HEROES.

We must NOT let the left defeat us from within. Because of their hatred for the Commander in Chief and their lust for power, they are deserting our military and this honorable mission.

PLEASE maintain support for our troops in harm's way by defending their mission to those who just don't, or won't understand.

God BLESS these brave souls!

[stickandrudder]

Agreed, what we are doing is the important story.
I was trying give some personal facts and reflections to a name in the news.

[red irish]

I have a question for everyone what can we do to show the democrats that we support the military and their mission. I was talking to a friend the other day and told her Iraqi is very important and cannot be lost to the terroists. Israel is surrounded by so many enemies and if they hit Israel then we will certainly get involved. With Iran the way they are we definitely can not let Iraqi go the same way. We need to make a strong support to the Iraqi people. But here in this country we need to strike out against the dems for making a political fight out of this war. But what can we do. Write letters, emails, phone calls . And vote. We need to make the vote of 06 a statement to the dems and campaign for the republicans big time. Besides if we can do well in 06 I think we can make them cry.

[JWojack]

It wasn't against anything you wrote, not at all. Just growing frustration at the media's obsession with casualties. As though a single wounded or killed soldier makes the whole effort unsuccessful.

At least they died by enemy fire, not by IEDs!