Camp Pendleton Salutes 2 Fallen Comrades

In a solemn and tearful memorial service Monday, two Marine helicopter pilots killed in Iraq were remembered as heroes who died protecting fellow Marines during an insurgent attack.

“The gates of heaven are guarded by two more of our finest Marines,” Col. Patrick Gough told several hundred Marines and guests gathered at a church here.

The emphasis on the word “more” was not used lightly.

With more than 255 killed, Camp Pendleton has had more personnel die in Iraq than any other military base in the United States. Only the Army base at Ft. Hood, Texas, with about 150 dead, and the Marine base at Camp Lejeune, N.C., with about 140, come close.

The count increases to more than 300 with the addition of 57 dead from the Marine base at Twentynine Palms, which is a satellite base for Camp Pendleton’s 1st Marine Division and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. And the toll rises almost daily.

The memorial services and funerals have become deeply embedded into the fabric of life at Camp Pendleton.

On Monday, it was time to mourn Maj. Gerald M. Bloomfield II and Capt. Michael D. Martino.

Despite drawing heavy enemy fire, Bloomfield and Martino kept their Super Cobra helicopter hovering over a Nov. 2 clash between Marines and insurgents outside Ramadi. Providing covering fire for the Marines below, Bloomfield and Martino destroyed insurgent strongholds before their craft was hit and crashed.

On Monday, photos of Bloomfield and Martino beside their helicopters were stationed near the altar in positions of honor.

The decision whether to hold an on-base memorial or other service is up to the unit commander. So, too, is the decision whether to allow the press to attend.

“Each unit has a different way of honoring [the dead] and coping with their losses and ensuring their brothers and sisters are not forgotten,” said a story in this week’s the Scout, the base newspaper. “Some tributes are big. Some are small.”

Under the headline “Marines Pay Respect With Warrior Ethos,” the story mentioned a memorial service for Marines killed from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment that drew more than 1,000 people.

Several Marines had gotten tattoos to honor a sergeant who was killed.

Retired Sgt. Maj. Juan D. Duff said he is convinced that it was a memorial service held by the 1st Marine Division that made many Marines in the audience decide to volunteer for a second or third tour in Iraq despite the death of friends.

“That’s the nature of our training,” said Duff. “We never want to leave a mission unfinished. When the other guy falls, you take over for him.”

Early next year more than 20,000 Marines from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force will deploy to the violent Al Anbar province, the fourth large-scale deployment from Camp Pendleton to Iraq.

More than one-third of the Marines have served two or more tours in Iraq and many are combat veterans. Some have also served in Afghanistan.

When Marines who fall in these theaters of war are honored at Camp Pendleton, the memorial ceremonies are eerily familiar but also unique.

There’s talk of duty, then the sharing of memories, then taps.

At Monday’s service, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Eric Hoog, a Catholic chaplain, remembered Bloomfield and Martino as “two individuals who saw fit to put on the uniform of his country and died for it.”

Martino’s mother, Sybil Martino, told reporters after the service about her last desperate attempt to contact her son in Iraq.

“I heard a Cobra had gone down and so I e-mailed him, ‘Tell us that you’re safe, please,’ ” said Sylvia Martino, wearing her son’s dog tags. “We never heard from him.”

Maj. John Poehler, in his eulogy of Bloomfield, said the 38-year-old native of Michigan was dedicated to the Marine Corps, his wife, Julie Gill-Bloomfield, and their son, Ryan.

Sgt. Maj. William Skiles, speaking of Martino, 32, recounted how he worked tirelessly as a forward air controller during the April 2004 battle in Falloujah, calling in airstrikes and earning the respect of infantry “grunts.”

Each had trouble finishing his remarks, as his eyes glistened and his voice began to break.

Each suggested he was being overcome by allergies. The second time it happened to Skiles, he opted to tell the truth.

“Yes,” he said, “true warriors do cry.”