Tuesday, April 18 2006 @ 02:38 AM EDT
Contributed by: River97
Views: 1,527
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 www.news.cincinnati.com -- COVINGTON - Lance Cpl. Justin Sims left no one guessing about his affection for the Marine Corps.
During high school, he flew the Marine flag in the front yard of the gray cottage on Boone Street where he lived for several years with his mother, Alma Jones, and four of his half-sisters.
Neighbor Margie Alexander watched from her home around the corner as Sims, a member of the Holmes High School's ROTC program, marched up and down the street in uniform, twirling his drill rifle.
Sunday, Sims' family and those who knew him were grieving after being notified that the 22-year-old gunner was killed a day earlier in Ramadi, Iraq. He was the 23rd area serviceman to die in Iraq and the third in 10 days.
His father, Beechie Sims, said two Marines showed up at his Westwood home at 9 p.m. Saturday and told him his son was killed that morning when the Humvee he was riding in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
"He loved the Marines and what they stood for," Beechie Sims said.
The 2003 Holmes graduate knew he was headed for the Marines while in high school, his father said. He joined the Marines right out of high school.
He married in December 2004, just before heading to Iraq for his first tour of duty. He returned to Iraq a month or so ago. That was the last time Beechie Sims heard from his son.
"He called me from Kuwait when he first got over there," Beechie Sims said. "He just told me he was getting ready to be deployed to Ramadi and that's where he got killed."
Alexander last saw Justin Sims in September, when he was home on leave. Even though his family had moved out of the neighborhood a year before, he insisted they stop back to say hello, she said.
"He was just so proud of the Marines," Alexander said.
Mike Wills, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and former assistant principal at Holmes, saw Sims in December, when his former student stopped for a visit while on leave. Sims spent an afternoon at Bellevue High School visiting Wills, who became principal there, and several teachers he knew there.
"I told him he was being put in my prayers and to keep his head down, that I'd be worried about him," said Wills, who fought in Vietnam and Liberia.
It was one of those things infantrymen say to one another when they are shipped out to war, Wills said.
Justin Sims knew what he was getting into, Wills said.
"He was one of those young men who really felt he wanted to choose a career in the military. To a certain extent, Justin followed the lead of those he saw before him," Wills said.
"I told (my students), please understand, it's a dangerous one. But, he accepted that with great faith and patience. He was an infantryman. It's something he elected to do."
Besides his parents, Justin Sims is survived by his wife, Leah of Latonia, and six half-sisters, Beechie Sims said.
He expects his son's remains to be flown home in three or four days. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Matt Winkler lowered the American and Marine flags in his Levassor Avenue yard in Covington to half-mast as a tribute to Justin Sims. He was a freshman in ROTC at Holmes when Justin Sims was a senior. They didn't really know each other because of the age difference.
But Winkler's mother, Debbie, knows what to expect when school resumes today and the ROTC classes gather at Holmes High School. At least five of nine graduating seniors are headed for the National Guard, Marine Corps or Army right after graduation, she said.
Debbie Winkler figures flags all over campus will mirror those on the 18-foot flagpole in her yard.
"I think these kids - their hearts are (in Iraq)," she said. "It does hit home." |
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I would like to say thank you to you and the other Marines who were in that Humvee with you for your service and sacrifice for our Country. And to your family, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy.
Semper Fi Devil Dog!
A fellow Marine;former member of 8th Marines