Marine's letter arrives after death
Advertiser Staff
Lance Cpl. Saeed "J.R." Jafarkhani-Torshizi Jr. had his future mapped out: Become a police officer, get married and become a dad. Iraq cut that plan short. Jafarkhani-Torshizi was one of 30 Marines and a sailor killed in last Wednesday's crash of a CH-43E Super Stallion.
Torshizi
The 24-year-old Marine from Arlington, Texas, hoped his time in Iraq would improve the lives of the people there, his family told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. In a letter that arrived Saturday, days after his death, Jafarkhani-Torshizi described how troops had helped families in Fallujah.
The Armed Services YMCA has created a fund for the families of the 26 Marines and one sailor based in Hawai'i who were killed in the Jan. 26 helicopter crash in Iraq. For information, call the Armed Services YMCA's Windward office at 254-4719 or its Pearl Harbor office at 473-1427.
"They were giving them aid, and he said it was very touching to see the gratitude and relief on their faces," his mother, Rani Travis, told the Star-Telegram. A friend said the Marine, who lived in Iran for a time with his father, felt compassion for the American and Persian Gulf cultures. Jafarkhani-Torshizi loved the Texas Rangers and had played in youth baseball leagues in Texas.
Fund for Marines created
