News Hits Hard at Pendleton

At a local beauty salon Wednesday, the wives of two soldiers bolted from their chairs and rushed home after hearing that officials would soon announce the names of several more Marines from Camp Pendleton killed in Iraq. Elsewhere people were glued to their television sets or clutched cell phones, anxiously awaiting news.

Throughout the day, military officials slowly released the names of 10 Pendleton Marines killed since last weekend. They said that number would probably rise.

While it remained unclear how many of those Marines had died during a bloody battle Tuesday in Ramadi, Pendleton officials said all 12 of the casualties there had been assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which has its headquarters at Camp Pendleton.

In a city that has lived side by side with Marines since World War II and where business owners and residents proudly display Marine Corps flags and yellow ribbons, a grim silence fell over inhabitants as they braced for the worst.

“When Marines die from Pendleton, it’s close,” said Damara Brew, 26, a former Pendleton Marine who now calls Oceanside home. “Ten to 1, it’s going to be someone I know. If I don’t know them personally, someone I know will know them.... “

Brew, like many others in the city, kept her cellphone within easy reach to keep in touch with friends and relatives.

Elsewhere, two young women waited for e-mails from Iraq, hoping for good news about their friends.

“I e-mailed a couple of them. I haven’t heard from any of them,” said Melissa England, 24, of Rancho Santa Margarita.

Her friend, Safya Bellachia, 25, also of Rancho Santa Margarita, could relax a little. Her fiance came back from Iraq on March 7. But she too was waiting to hear from friends in Iraq.

She said her computer was set up so that, whenever a news article mentions the 1st Battalion of the 1st Marine Division, she gets an e-mail alert.

In the hours before officials began notifying relatives of combat fatalities, Marine Maj. Mary Bradford said that a “blanket of quiet” had fallen over the base and the sidewalks of Oceanside. Bradford said that, very shortly, teams of two Marines and a chaplain would begin visiting the families of the dead Marines.

“Some family members don’t open the door,” Bradford said. “Others say, ‘What’s next?’ The reaction is always different.”

Of the 25,000 Marines serving in Iraq, 14,000 are based at Pendleton. Many of those who have been stationed at the sprawling base choose to stay in Oceanside as civilians. The dead aren’t just Marines, residents say; they are friends, relatives and customers.

“It just breaks my heart to think of them over there,” said Eva Valenti, manager of the Cut-Rite barbershop. On an average day before the war, the 10 red barber chairs in Valenti’s shop would have been filled with Marines.

On Wednesday, the shop was deserted and Valenti spent her time cleaning a large collection of electric shears.

“It’s not so much the business -- these are our friends,” Valenti said of her youthful customers. “They say ‘I’ve got to go,’ and you give them a kiss and a hug.... “

In addition to anxiety and heartbreak, there was anger in the waiting.

“I say we just make a parking lot out of that whole country,” said Oceanside resident Jack Goslin, who rides a Harley-Davidson motorcycle adorned with American flags and tattered yellow ribbons. “We need to go over there and clean house.... This country has a lot of compassion, but when they start killing some of our people like this, my compassion is gone.”

The 12 Marine deaths in Ramadi on Tuesday were the most casualties the Marine Corps has suffered in a single day since major fighting in Iraq was declared over last year. The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force comprises Marines from several bases, including Camp Pendleton, Twentynine Palms and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

News of the fatalities brought an army of television and newspaper reporters to Pendleton’s front gate, where a fleet of television vans raised telescoping antennas.

Bradford, the major who oversees all family counseling and service operations for the base, said Wednesday had been extremely difficult for Marines and their families, because nobody had known who the dead from the Ramadi battle were, and all they could do was wait. Bradford said that she had received a dozen telephone calls the previous night from anxious family members seeking more information.

Temecula resident Joe Ritchey, 40, surveyed the empty sidewalks of Oceanside with frustration. Ritchey had driven to the city with three American flags fluttering on his pickup truck as a show of support.

“We need more people out here supporting us, man -- 12 Marines died over there,” Ritchey said. “This country is what it is today because of the people who died for it.”

Of the 10 known Pendleton Marine fatalities, the Department of Defense reported that Cpl. Tyler R. Fey, 22, of Eden Prairie, Minn., died April 4 in Al Anbar province.

Five more Marines died the next day in fighting in the same province: Pfc. Christopher Ramos, 26, of Albuquerque; Cpl. Jesse L. Thiry, 23, of Casco, Wis.; Lance Cpl. Matthew K. Serio, 21, of North Providence, R.I.; Pfc. Deryk I. Hallal, 24, of Indianapolis; and Pfc. Moises A. Langhorst, 19, of Moose Lake, Minn.

Camp Pendleton released the names of four more Marines killed in combat on April 6, but did not provide their locations: Pfc. Christopher Cobb, 19, of Bradenton, Fla.; Pfc. Ryan M. Jerabek, 18, of Oneida, Wis.; Lance Cpl. Travis Layfield, 19, of Fremont, Calif.; and Lance Cpl. Anthony P. Roberts, 18, of Bear, Del.

For some families, the wait for names was over Wednesday.

Tyler Fey’s parents had sensed for weeks that their son was in the thick of combat, because they hadn’t heard from him since February.

“He was very proud of his decision to enlist in the Marines,” said Char Loving, Fey’s cousin. “He’s a genuine young kid with a love for life, a spark in his eyes.... People adored Tyler and rooted for him.”

Fey, who had a baby face and enjoyed snowboarding and hunting, enlisted in the Marines in September 2000 and became a combat engineer. He was due to return to the U.S. in August, his cousin said.

Matthew Serio’s father, Anthony Serio, described his son as a gifted linebacker at North Providence High School who had aspired to a career in law enforcement. “He felt that going into the Marines would help him do that,” Serio’s father said. “Being involved in team sports throughout his life -- baseball and football -- he was hardworking, and the Marines offered that too. So it sort of went with his personality.”

In periodic e-mails, Matthew Serio would assure his family that he was safe, but said little else of his mission. They last heard from him three or four days ago.

“He would say, ‘It’s very dusty and dry and hot’ and that he wanted us to send cookies,” Serio’s father said. “His aunt’s chocolate-chip cookies were his favorite. He was mostly tight-lipped about his mission. We would ask where he was and he would tell us to listen to the news.”

Times staff writers Jia-Rui Chong and David Pierson contributed to this report.