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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Friday, January 14, 2005

Sacrifice for comrades cited

The lei-draped photographs of five troops killed in Iraq — Lance Cpl. Jeffery S. Blanton, Lance Cpl. Blake Magaoay, Petty Officer Julian Woods, Lance Cpl. Brian Medina and Sgt. Rafael Peralta — were on display during a memorial service at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i.

Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

For regimental commander Col. Jeffrey J. Patterson, the sacrifice of nine Marines and one Navy corpsman killed in the battle for Fallujah can best be summed up by words from the Bible.

Marine Cpl. Cory Spencer weeps during a Service of Remembrance for nine Marines and one Navy corpsman killed in Iraq. Spencer was a close friend of one of the Marines, Lance Cpl. Franklin Sweger. He learned of his buddy's death only yesterday.

Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Yesterday, he quoted John 15:13 at a memorial for his fallen comrades: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

The 10 warriors, said Patterson, exemplified that sort of love.

"Each of them gave their life for their brothers," said Patterson, adding that yesterday's service was the second of its kind in as many months, and a "stark reminder to all of us that freedom isn't free."

The men, from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, were all killed since Nov. 8. They were honored at the special Service of Remembrance at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i in Kane'ohe.

One by one, Patterson praised each man's commitment, courage and character. Their helmets, rifles and boots were lined up across the stage at the base theater, where the service took place.

Crystal Hines hugs Cpl. Aaron Green, a close friend of Crystal's husband, Marine Cpl. Casey Hines, who is deployed to Iraq. The two were at a memorial service for 10 troops killed in Iraq.

Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

There was Sgt. Rafael Peralta — "the old man of the group" at age 25 — an immigrant from Mexico who enlisted before he became a U.S. citizen.

Peralta has been nominated for the Medal of Honor for using his body to smother the blast of an enemy grenade to protect his men.

There was Lance Cpl. Blake Magaoay, 20, of Pearl City, the only one of the 10 from Hawai'i. He was wounded twice before returning to the fight and being killed in a enemy ambush, said Patterson, whose booming voice broke several times as he fought back tears.

"Our motto is 'Always Faithful — Semper Fidelis,'" said Patterson. "It does a lot to explain why these Marines fought so hard and were so brave in combat. Oddly enough, during the heat of battle their acts of bravery have little to do with the Constitution or patriotism.

THE FALLEN

Nine Marines and a Navy corpsman who were memorialized:

Lance Cpl. Aaron C. Pickering, 20, of Harrisburg, Ill.

Petty Officer Julian Woods, 22 of Jacksonville, Fla.

Lance Cpl. David M. Branning, 21, of Cockeysville, Md.

Lance Cpl. Brian A. Medina, 20, of Woodbridge, Va.

Sgt. Rafael Peralta, 25, of San Diego, Calif.

Lance Cpl. Michael A. Downey, 21, of Phoenix, Ariz.

Cpl. Michael R. Cohen, 23, of Jacobus, Pa.

Lance Cpl. Jeffrey S. Blanton, 23, of Fayetteville, Ga.

Lance Cpl. Franklin A. Sweger, 24, of San Antonio, Texas.

Lance Cpl. Blake Magaoay, 20, of Pearl City.

"They act instinctively, and they do it for the love of their brothers. Commitment and brotherhood are the things that inspired Petty Officer Julian Woods to turn, run out and give aid to a wounded Marine."

In so doing, Woods, a Navy corpsman, gave his life.

Among the hundreds of Marines attending the service were about a dozen men wounded in action and recently returned from Iraq. They watched quietly from the first two rows.

Lance Cpl. Michael Erdman, 23, of Denver, Colo., was one who stood to speak about his experience. Erdman, a machine gunner, was shot in Fallujah in early December. A week earlier he watched as two of his buddies — Lance Cpl. David M. Branning, 21, and Lance Cpl. Brian A. Medina, 20 — were shot and killed in a gun battle.

Erdman said he and Medina had become especially close in a short time in Iraq. He described Medina as the stuff of which legends are made.

Once, he said, he and Medina were chatting about finding themselves in the thick of battle in one of the world's hottest war zones. Erdman said he uttered something about being there to do his job, whether he liked it or not.

Medina's response was that he had joined the Marine Corps to defend his company, his family, and his friends in the United States of America. Medina said he considered Fallujah an opportunity to fulfill that commitment.

"I had never heard anybody say anything like that with such sincerity," Erdman said. "I salute him as a friend, as a brother in arms, and as a man of honor."

Following the service, Blake Magaoay's grandmother, Leilani Roberts of Ka'alaea, said she had been very moved.

"I'm so glad that I came," said Roberts, whose father and brother were Marines. "I just feel that the service was so beautiful and a fitting closure to the lives of these young men who sacrificed their all.

"Blake was the kind of person who would have done anything for his buddies."

Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.