Marine Pfc. Veashna Muy, 20, Long Beach; Among 6 Killed by Suicide Bomber

Marine Corps Pfc. Veashna Muy of Long Beach was known by his peers as a hard worker who never complained and always completed his missions.

On June 23, the 20-year-old was among six troops killed in a suicide car-bomb attack on their convoy in Fallouja, Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. Muy was in the front passenger seat, his family said.

“Even through all the stress and work, his spirits were always high and he never wavered,” a former roommate, Pfc. Marcus Hart, wrote in an e-mail from Camp Fallouja. “He always stayed strong and completed the mission without any hesitation.”

Muy, born in Long Beach, was the son of Cambodian refugees who came to the U.S. after the Vietnam War. He graduated from Jordan High School and was attending community college classes when he decided to join the military in honor of his mother, said an uncle, Thongin Muy.

He joined the Marine Corps in May 2004. Muy was trained in motor vehicle operations and was assigned to the 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He joined the unit in Fallouja six months later.

When Muy wasn’t working, he often could be found playing on the base’s makeshift basketball court, Hart wrote in his e-mail. Long after everyone would be asleep, Muy would stay up and watch games on TV, Hart wrote.

“One thing he could never get enough of was basketball,” Hart wrote. “It didn’t matter who was playing, he would just watch it forever.”

In one of his last conversations with his mother, Nong, Muy calmed her with talk of dreams of moving up the Marine ranks and eventually settling down and getting married, his uncle said.

Muy had a constant smile, and “he’d always kid around with his mom,” Thongin Muy said.

When Muy joined the Marines, he was following in the footsteps of his uncle, who was the first in the family to enlist in the military. But now that Muy is gone, his uncle said the roles are reversed.

“He wanted to become like me,” Thongin Muy said. “In the end, it’s me who wants to be more like him.”

In addition to his mother, Muy is survived by a sister, Levan; and his stepfather, Woody Chheap.

Muy was buried July 9 at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in Long Beach.