2 Southland Marines Killed in Battle for Fallouja

At 19, Abraham Simpson knew just what he wanted in years to come: a stint in the Marines and a career in law enforcement.

As it turned out, he could achieve only one.

A resident of Chino, Lance Cpl. Simpson was killed in combat Nov. 9 in Fallouja. He had been stationed in Iraq for five months and was based at Camp Pendleton.

Simpson, an Eagle Scout and a deeply committed Christian, was the first graduate of his high school to die in war. “It was a huge loss for all of us here,” said Stacey Sanchez, a staff member at 25-year-old Southland Christian School in Walnut. “He always gave so much.”

Sanchez recalled Simpson pitching in as Spiderman at a birthday party for one of her young relatives.

“He put on the suit, got down on all fours, pretended to climb the walls and held his hands out like he was spinning webs,” she said. “Everyone was just overwhelmed by his enthusiasm.”

Simpson was described as a quiet young man who aimed to be of service to others.

“In his last year of high school he was very touched going to the skid row area of Los Angeles on a service project,” recalled his grandmother, Adeline Kingolan, of Anaheim. “He said it changed his life.”

Simpson sent frequent e-mails and more than 700 photos from Iraq to his parents, James and Maria Simpson, and his younger brothers David and Paul. He never questioned his purpose there, his mother said.

“He really had it in his heart to do what was right,” she said. “I believe this was the job God had given him.”

Even as a boy, Simpson wanted to be a Marine. He joined the military after high school, despite grades that could have gotten him into a good college with a scholarship, family members said.

After basic training, he paid a visit to his old school and talked to the senior class about being a Marine.

“He was tall and he walked in with so much pride,” said Mallory Madrigal, a student at the time. “He just went on about how much he liked the Marines.”

Eight months after he signed on, he shipped out to Iraq. He spent his last day stateside with fellow Scouts from a leadership training group in which he had been active for six years.

“He spent the day with us in his Marine uniform just being an example, and teaching the 14- to 16-year-olds how to demonstrate leadership skills to younger Scouts,” said Dan Glass, an El Monte police detective and the leader of the group.

Glass said the Scouts were thinking of installing a plaque in Simpson’s memory at a trailside vista he loved just outside the Holcomb Valley Scout Ranch north of Big Bear.

At the end of his day with the leadership group, Simpson was assigned to lower the American flag.

“We said a prayer for his safety and we thanked him for his service,” Glass said. “That was the last time we saw him.”

Services for Simpson have been set for Saturday at Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills.