 WKYT -- NEW WINDSOR, N.Y. -- A Marine from the Hudson Valley died in Iraq this week after a roadside bomb exploded, his family said.
 Cpl. Joseph Tremblay, 23, of New Windsor, N.Y., joined the Marine Corps after graduating from high school in 1999. After serving four years, he remained in the Reserve and volunteered for active duty so he could go to Iraq.
"He felt that all his brothers were there and he wasn't," his father Lawrence Tremblay said. "What got to him ... was the kids and the people over there not having anything. He had a very, very big heart."
The Department of Defense hasn't released details on Tremblay's death and his West Virginia-based unit wasn't immediately available. The family was notified Wednesday. His mother lives in Corbin, Ky.
Tremblay was with the 3rd Marine Battalion's 25th Infantry Regiment out of West Virginia, was killed while driving his Humvee. The only information his family has at this point is that he either drove over a land mine or he was hit by RPG rounds.
Tremblay deployed to Iraq in January and most recently was stationed at Camp Hit in southern Iraq, his father said. He was traveling in a Humvee when the explosion happened.
The last person to hear from Tremblay was his fiancee Jennifer Coloni.
"He called me on Monday just to say he was OK and he loved me and he would be home soon," she said. "He always put others before himself."
Tremblay was called into action January 2005, went for training in California, and by mid-March he was in Iraq. His first mission was a successful one -- that's all his family knows. But the second mission proved to be deadly for the young Corbin native.
Tremblay's sister, Stacey Messer described him as "preparing for war all his life," and that he began that training at a very early age.
"We used to call him GI Joe," Messer said. "When he was 5-years-old my mom and dad used to buy him GI Joe sets and he would play war. Ever since he was little, he always wanted to be a Navy Seal _ that was just his thing."
Tremblay spent three years in Corbin High School's ROTC program. Lt. Col. Rick McClure, his instructor, fondly recalled Tremblay as a member of his first class.
Tremblay left his Corbin High his senior year to live with his father in New York. His teacher tried to get him to stay.
"He had the capability of doing anything he wanted to do," McClure said. "He was very athletic _ and we had a lot of athletic competitions at that time and largely because of Joey, we won them all."
However, Messer said, there was no way for her brother to prepare for the death awaiting him in Iraq.
"If you roll over a land mine, I don't care how much training -- there's nothing you can do," Messer said. |
I would like to say thank you for your service and sacrifice for our Country. And to your family, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy.
Semper Fi Devil Dog!