Kaneohe base suffers 4th loss
A second Marine killed in Afghanistan over the weekend had roots in Honolulu
Marines from Kaneohe Bay have suffered their fourth loss in Afghanistan since arriving in January.
The Pentagon yesterday reported that Lance Cpl. Nicholas R. Anderson, 21, of Sauk City, Wis., was killed Monday when his Humvee overturned in Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.
Also killed Sunday by a roadside bomb in Iraq was Lance Cpl. Kristen Figueroa, who was born in Honolulu.
Figueroa was in Al Anbar province when he was killed. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, from Twenty-nine Palms in Southern California and had been in Iraq since September.
Figueroa joined the Marine Corps on Sept. 20, 2004.
He is survived by his parents, Alfrid and Sandey Marino, of Honolulu.
Anderson is the son of Sauk City Village President Jim Anderson, WISC-TV in Madison reported. Jim Anderson said that his son suffered head injuries when his Humvee overturned while pursuing a suspicious Afghan vehicle. He died while being transported to the hospital, the Wisconsin television station reported.
The elder Anderson told the television station that his son had been a Marine for a year. He had initially enlisted in the Army Reserve, but then switched to the Marine Corps.
Yesterday, Jim Anderson recalled a conversation that he had with his son before he was deployed. He said that his son told him that he shouldn't worry because he would be OK. Jim Anderson said that the confidence in his son's voice made him believe him, according to WISC-TV.
Family members said Nicholas Anderson was very proud of being a Marine and that he might have been following in the military footsteps of his grandfather, who was a plane gunner in World War II, the television station said. His parents said that he was a Harley-Davidson fan and owned a Fat Boy. He loved to hunt, fish and target shoot.
Since March 19, 2003, when the war began, 27 soldiers, two sailors, 46 Marines and one civilian with Hawaii ties have been killed in Iraq.
In Afghanistan, 15 soldiers from the 25th Division have been killed, as well as 10 Marines and six sailors.
Four Marines from Kaneohe Bay's 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, have been killed in Afghanistan since the unit left in January.
That same unit lost 26 Marines and one Pearl Harbor corpsman during in Iraq before it came home in April 2005 after spending nine months including battling for Fallujah.