United States Department of Defense News Release On the web: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2004/nr20040411-0557.html Media contact: Marine Corps Public Affairs - (703) 614-4309 Public contact: http://www.dod.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711 No. 297-04 IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 11, 2004 DoD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lance Cpl. Elias Torrez III, 21, of Veribest, Texas, died April 9 from hostile fire in Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif. For further information related to this release, contact the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms Public Affairs Office at (760) 830-6213. Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle By DALE LEZON and JOHN W. GONZALEZ April 13, 2004, 8:11A Houston soldier killed in Iraq Wife says she spoke with him by phone, hours later he was dead Army Spc. Adolfo Cesar Carballo called his wife on her cell phone Saturday morning, hours before he was killed in combat. He told her not to worry. He had just returned from a mission, was eating dinner and was headed back out on another mission. He was safe south of Baghdad. The next time his wife heard about him, he was dead. Two Army sergeants came to her home Sunday morning and broke the news. Carballo, 20, had died from shrapnel wounds he received Saturday night when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his Humvee, said his wife, Beatriz Carballo, 18. Two other soldiers were injured. "He was counting down the days to come back home," Beatriz Carballo said. "He was worried because he didn't want to be alone or die young. He said he just wanted to live life. That's what hurts the most. I couldn't be there or do anything about it." Adolfo Carballo was the 14th person from the Houston area killed while serving in Iraq and was among at least seven military personnel with Texas ties who died in fierce combat last week. Like some of the dead, Carballo was stationed at Fort Hood. He was assigned to the Army's 1st Battalion, 21st Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Elias Torrez III, 21, of Veribest, and Cpl. Matthew E. Matula, 20, of Spicewood died from hostile fire on Friday, Pentagon officials said. Circumstances of their deaths were not disclosed. Torrez, whose hometown is near San Angelo, was based at Twentynine Palms, Calif., while Matula, from near Austin, was based at Camp Pendleton. Spc. Justin W. Johnson, 22, assigned to 1st Cavalry at Fort Hood, of Rome, Ga., was killed Sunday when his patrol vehicle hit a roadside bomb. Also killed last week was Sgt. Felix M. Delgreco Jr., 22, of Simsbury, Conn. He died Friday when his patrol was hit by a roadside bomb and small arms fire near Baghdad. His Connecticut National Guard unit was merged with an Arkansas unit that was deployed in March as part of the 1st Cavalry. Reports of another Fort Hood casualty had not been confirmed by the Pentagon late Monday, but relatives in Woodville said they were notified Sunday that Wesley Charles Fortenberry of Troy, an Apache helicopter crewman based at Fort Hood, was killed earlier in the day. Media reports from Iraq said the aircraft's two crewmembers died when the chopper was brought down by insurgent fire. Similarly, the family of Army Sgt. Cody Eckhart of Rocksprings said they learned Sunday that he died in weekend fighting. Eckhart was based in Germany. His reported death was not immediately verified by the military. Carballo had been in Iraq about three weeks when he was killed, Beatriz Carballo said. He had enlisted in June 2002, barely one month after he graduated from John H. Reagan High School. He had been a member of a crack ROTC drill team at the school, his wife said. She said he liked the military but hoped to finish his hitch and become a Houston police officer. "I talk to Jesus Christ and beg him that his dying wasn't in vain," said Cesar Carballo, Carballo's father. "I know he's in heaven. I know I'll be there one day to meet him." The father added he wants U.S. troops to leave Iraq. "It's like Vietnam," he said. "We just went for nothing. We're never going to win." Cesar Carballo said his family will make funeral arrangements in a few days after his son's body is shipped home. Copyright FreeRepublic.com 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment memorializes fallen warrior April 13, 2004 | Sgt. Jose L. Garcia 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment memorializes fallen warrior Submitted by: 1st Marine Division Story Identification Number: 2004414101613 Story by Sgt. Jose L. Garcia CAMP AL QAIM, Iraq(April 13, 2004) -- Twenty-one-year-old Lance Cpl. Elias Torrez III, a radio operator, was driving back to base when his convoy was ambushed in the city of Sa'dah. Torrez had one hand on the steering wheel and his foot on the door to hold it open while he shot at the enemy. He unloaded two magazines before being killed April 9. The San Angelo, Texas Marine, assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division just dropped off a squad of Marines in a nearby town and was on his way back to Al Qaim when rocket-propelled grenades and heavy small arms fire struck his convoy. A crowd of more than 400 Marines and sailors gathered for a memorial service held April 13, to honor Torrez's memory and pay their last respects to the fallen warrior. "He was glued to the driver seat and kept the vehicle moving," Staff Sgt. Brian D. Laucht, 30, an artillery operations chief with Company K from Oceanside, Calif. "He had the door open with one foot and was blazing away at the enemy." Cpl. Noe Tellez , assigned to 3rd Battalion's Communications Platoon, Headquarters and Service Company, described Torrez as a fearless and ambitious Marine who was never afraid of anything "He stuck with us all the way through the first war and now this one. He wasn't scared to get out there and help us out," the 22 year-old San Antonio-born Marine said. Tellez and Torrez, roommates, always traveled home on leave and whenever possible. They lived a few hours away from each other. Cpl. Jonathan L. Garza, a field wireman and Torrez's best friend, said they became good friends during Operation Iraq Freedom last year and since became inseparable. "We fought together," 21-year-old Garza said. "We were the G and T connection, 'two compadres.' He was my son's godfather." Torrez was born January 28, 1983 and joined the Marine Corps on Sept. 9, 2001. He completed recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. He joined 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment in February 2002. Torrez served with Weapons Company during last year's campaign in Iraq as a gunner and a combat vehicle driver in addition to his duties as a radioman. A year later he deployed again. Garza said Torrez loved playing card games and video games. He also played football and collected football jerseys. Torrez's desire was to become an infantryman and then a recruiter. His lifelong goal was to stay in the Marine Corps until retirement. "All he wanted to do was be a grunt," Garza said. "He loved what he was doing... and being around the group of guys he was attached to." According to Laucht, Torrez was a smiling person who had many friends. He spent hours writing letters home and never seemed to worry about anything. "He was like a brother to me," said Lance Cpl. Raul Gonzalez Jr., from Monroeville, Ala. and a mortarman with 3rd Battalion. "He took me under his wing and taught me knowledge. "He was definitely a mentor and I want to be like him in a lot of his ways," 18-year-old Gonzalez added. "His death crushed a lot of people," Laucht said, "He was a likeable person who had a lot of friends." Torrez is survived by his parents and two brothers. Marine/Veribest native dies in Iraq Funeral services are pending for Tom Green County native Elias Torrez, who died Friday fighting in Iraq. Family members say they have been told that Lance Corporal Elias Torrez III was shot in the head during fighting in Fallujah last Friday. His mother received official notification around 12:30 p.m. Friday afternoon. To family and friends back home in Tom Green County, he was "ET." That's how he identified himself in a message he left on his mother's answering machine at her home in Grape Creek last Tuesday. It was a brief message. "I miss you all very much, and I'll call again as soon as I can," he told them. That was to be his last communication with his family. ''I was starting to think that he was invincible or something because he'd been in so many close calls," his mother Veronica Norris said during an interview at her home Monday. As she talked, she thumbed through photo albums she has assembled since his departure for Iraq last year. She proudly shows photos her son e-mailed to her. In one he's reclining in a chair at a desk which once belonged to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. In another, he stands in an underground corridor purported to be the lion's den from the Old Testament story of Daniel. Torrez grew up in Tom Green County. He was a 2001 graduate of Veribest High School, where he was active in football and basketball. He signed up for the Marines shortly after graduation. He departed for basic training September 10, 2001, the day before an event that would change the world. His brother says Torrez's original intention for joining the Marines was to get an education, and make something of himself. But as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom he began to see the bigger picture. Norris says, ''He told his brother he was going to make sure I could get up in the morning and go to work, and he could get up in the morning and go to school. That's why he did it, for his family.'' For younger brother Pete, Lance Corporal Torrez has become a role model. Of his brother's qualities that he would like to imitate: "Determination, and how nothing ever gets on his nerves. He's just always so happy, carefree." Torrez came home during the Thanksgiving holidays last year. That was the last time they would see him. His message last Tuesday was the last time they would hear him. He was 21. By: Joel Fox Copyright WOAI: San ANtonio/News Three Texas Soldiers Killed in Iraq LAST UPDATE: 4/13/2004 6:26:40 AM Rigo Ramirez remembered his stepbrother Marine Lance Cpl. Elias Torrez III on Sunday as a man with a zest for life who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. Torrez was one of three Marines from Texas who have died in Iraq since Thursday, according to the Department of Defense. Torrez, 21, of Veribest and Cpl. Matthew E. Matula, 20, of Spicewood died Friday from hostile fire in Iraq, officials said. Lance Cpl. Michael Blake Wafford, 20, was killed Thursday by hostile fire. Torrez was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, in Twentynine Palms, Calif. Ramirez said Torrez was serving his second stint in Iraq. He was deployed at the start of the war and served nine months before returning home for a month at Christmas and then returning to his military base. He was deployed again the first week in February. Ramirez described Torrez as an easygoing, lovable guy with a lot of friends. "He was funny. He could take a bad situation and make you laugh no matter what," said Ramirez, 20, "He was a free soul. He had a zest for life. He really enjoyed being out here in Veribest on the farm." Torrez graduated from Veribest High School in 2001 and started boot camp the day before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Ramirez said he last heard from his stepbrother a month ago, when he left a message saying he was OK and telling his father and stepmother that he loved them and everything was going OK. "He made the ultimate sacrifice, I imagine. He gave his life for his country, that means a lot in itself," Ramirez said. Torrez's parents are Elias Torres Jr., of Veribest and Veronica Norris of Grape Creek. He also has a younger brother, Ramirez said. Torrez spelled his last name differently than his family. Funeral arrangements are pending. Wafford enlisted in the Marines when he was a senior at Klein High School, Cindy Willis, a family friend, told the Houston Chronicle. Wafford's mother and sister did not wish to be interviewed, she said. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Wafford also died during his second deployment to Iraq. His family last saw him when he came home for Thanksgiving, Willis said. "He always wanted to be a soldier," she said. "He was a nice kid and very intelligent." Willis said Wafford's mother had received a letter from him last weekend about his experiences in Iraq. "He said that the people over there were very proud (that) Americans were helping, and that the media only shows the bad things," Willis said. Matula was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, in Camp Pendleton, Calif. His family could not immediately be reached by telephone for comment Sunday.