Found out today that the suicide bombing in Haditha, Iraq on August 3rd, that killed 14 Marines, had killed one of my own car club members.

SGT Justin Hoffman (Harbinger) KIA from Lima Company, the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines of Columbus, Ohio. To the ClubRSX Family, he was known as Harbinger, a hard core American who expressed his values openly in the Bully Pulpit section of our forums. You will be greatly missed my friend.

You paid the ultimate price for our freedom. USMC: Semper Fidelis. *Salute* Ooohrah! You will always be remembered for your sacrifice.

News article here: -=LINK=-

Battalion loses 14 more
9 Marines from Columbus unit among those killed by bomb in Iraq
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Jeb Phillips
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A Delaware man was one of 14 Marines killed in an explosion Wednesday in Iraq.

Robert Hoffman said he learned last night that his son, Justin, 26, died in the attack.

“This doesn’t change my sentiment,” the elder Hoffman said. “I’m pretty sad right now, but I don’t think what we’re doing is any less right than it was yesterday.”

Fourteen men from the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment based in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park, died. Six men from the same unit died Monday in Iraq.

Nine of the Marines who died Wednesday were from the Columbus-based Lima Company.

Hoffman said his son emailed him Friday, talking about his friend who died. He said Sgt. Hoffman was as resolved as ever to right the war in Iraq.

The names of six other Lima Company victims have been identified. They are Aaron Reed of Richmond Dale in Ross County; Lance Cpl. Timothy Michael Bell Jr., 22, of West Chester in suburban Cincinnati; Pfc. Michael CiFuentes, 25, of Oxford in Butler County; Lance Cpl. Edward Schroeder, 23, of Cleveland, a one-time student at Ohio State University; Lance Cpl. Christopher Dyer, 19, of Evendale in suburban Cincinnati; and Lance Cpl. Brett Wightman, 22, of Sabina in Clinton County.

Reed, 21, graduated from Southeastern High School in 2001. His mother, Sarah Duvall, is an art teacher in the school district.

Wednesday’s roadside bombing was the deadliest since the war in Iraq began.

The deaths mean the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, based in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park, has lost 19 members since Monday.

The Rickenbacker-based Lima Company, which is part of that battalion, has lost 16 members and four other Marines attached to it since May. The companies of the other five dead Marines weren’t released yesterday. Besides Brook Park and Columbus, the battalion has units in Akron, Moundsville, W.Va., and Buffalo, N.Y.

“This has hit us very hard emotionally,” said Lima Company Master Sgt. Stephen Walter.

Walter said that most of Lima Company’s nine dead were from outside of Franklin County. He declined to identify any of the dead. He said company officials were continuing to notify family members last night.

Isolde Zierk, Lima Company’s volunteer coordinator for families, said her phone has been ringing off the hook.

She heard the news on television yesterday morning and started shaking. Her son, Sgt. Guy Zierk, 29, serves in the company

“I can’t give them information, but at least I can assure them,” she said of the relatives calling her. “I think mostly, they need to talk to someone.”

Pat Murray, of Cincinnati, whose son Cpl. David Kreuter is part of Lima Company, spent much of yesterday calling every person who could possibly have information on her 26-year-old son.

“We’re all very, very confused,” she said. “I haven’t heard from him lately at all.”

The Defense Department released few details of the explosion. The members of Lima Company were in the town of Haditha, in western Iraq near the Syrian border, said Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, during a Defense Department briefing.

The Marines were riding in an armored Amphibious Assault Vehicle, the vehicle they would normally use for operations, when it struck an explosive.

Along with being the single deadliest roadside bombing since the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, it’s one of the worst of the war.

In April 2004, as many as 12 Marines were killed when they were attacked in Ramadi, and in November 2004, 14 troops and four contractors were killed by a suicide bomber at a mess hall near Mosul.

Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s son, 19-year-old Lance Cpl. John David “J.D.” Coleman, is stationed in Iraq as a member of Lima Company.

Yesterday, the mayor kept a television tuned into 24-hour news channels.

“We’re in the same boat as everyone else . . . no news is good news,” said Mike Brown, Coleman’s spokesman. Coleman declined to comment, saying this was a family issue.

Lima Company has now lost 10 percent of the 160 members who went to Iraq in March.

Two Lima members — Cpl. Andre L. Williams, of the Far West Side, and Lance Cpl. Christopher P. Lyons, of Shelby — were killed one week ago today clearing buildings in the same area of Iraq.

And five members of the battalion were killed Monday while on sniper duty.

In May, five members were killed during an offensive in western Iraq, along with four other Marines attached to the company.

Schroeder’s mother, Rosemary Palmer, said she and her husband were talking about plans to attend funerals of the reservists killed Monday when Marines came to tell them of her son’s death.

Palmer said her son joined the military in 2002 despite her opposition; she wouldn’t even let him play with toy guns while he was growing up.

“He was persuaded that if he joined the Marines he would get a new sense of purpose.”

Timothy Michael Bell Sr. said he last talked to his son two weeks ago.

“My son was the last of the John Waynes, but tougher.”

Missy Luttrell, Wightman’s aunt, said her nephew had been interested in the military since he was 3 years old.

“He would play with those GI Joes and he’d say, ‘I’m going to grow up and be one of these guys.’ All of his life, that’s all he would talk about,” she said.

Five of six Marines who died Monday of small-arms fire while conducting operations outside Haditha were from the 3 rd Battalion, 25 th Regiment. Dead are Cpl. Jeffrey A. Boskovitch, 25, of Seven Hills, Ohio; Lance Cpl. Roger D. Castleberry Jr., 26, of Austin, Texas; Sgt. David J. Coullard, 32, of Glastonbury, Conn.; Lance Cpl. Daniel N. Deyarmin Jr., 22, of Tallmadge, Ohio; Lance Cpl. Brian P. Montgomery, 26, of Willoughby, Ohio; and Sgt. Nathaniel S. Rock, 26, of Toronto, Ohio.

The battalion was activated in January and went to Iraq in March. It has about 860 members in all.

The Associated Press and Dispatch reporters Jodi Andes and Kevin Kidder contributed to this story.