Marine Staff Sgt. Ramon E. Gonzales Cordova
30, of Davie, Fla.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; attached to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward); killed Aug. 8 by enemy small-arms fire while conducting combat operations in Ramadi, Iraq.
Fla. Marine killed while conducting combat operations
Associated Press
Ramon E. Gonzales Cordova served in the Marine Corps for 11 years and traveled the world. Family friend Michael Millstone remembers Gonzales proudly showing off his scrapbook. “He’d joke, saying, ‘Don’t I look great in a uniform?”’ Millstone said.
Gonzales, 30, of Davie, Fla., was killed Aug. 8 by a sniper in Ramadi. He was based at Camp Pendleton.
His sister, Blanca Gonzales, said she often reads the poem that helped her cope with her brother’s death, especially the last lines: “And never, never be afraid to die, for I am waiting for you in the sky.”
Gonzales joined the Marine Corps in 1994 after graduating high school.
“Ever since I can remember, he always wanted to be a soldier,” said his sister. “I remember him playing with little soldier toys.” He is survived by his wife, Joselyn, and 3-year-old son Sergio.
He was finishing his second tour and his wife said he would always ask her for candy to give to Iraqi children. Gonzales spoke to his mother, sister and wife the day he died, just two months before his 31st birthday.
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