PROSSER, Wash. Family, friends, community members and fellow Marines filled the Prosser High School gym to say goodbye to a California-based Marine who was killed in Iraq.
Staff Sgt. Marvin Best, 33, died June 20 after the Humvee he was riding in hit a land mine and exploded. “Marvin was a charmer. He had an engaging personality and a smile that warmed the hearts of everyone around him,” close friend Dave Walker told some 1,500 people attending the service Tuesday. Before the service, hundreds lined the street awaiting the funeral procession, waving flags and homemade signs bearing Best’s picture and phrases such as, “We Love You, Marvin.”
Businesses and light poles were decorated with American flags. Two Prosser fire trucks were parked near the high school, a large American flag stretched between their extended ladders. “I wanted to show my support because he put his life on the line for our freedom,” said Zillah resident Kathy Eims.
Best graduated from Prosser High School in 1989 and entered the Marine Corps on June 7 of that year. For part of his career, Best was a recruiter based in Kennewick. Many of Best’s fellow Marines, including some he recruited, turned out for the service. Best married his wife, Shelly, 29, a dance instructor, in 1999. They did not have any children. Best was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Twentynine Palms, Calif. He was deployed on Feb. 12 and was scheduled to return home in September. He was the second Yakima Valley serviceman to be killed in Iraq. Dustin Sides, a 22-year-old Marine lance corporal from Yakima, died of injuries after an ambush while returning from a mission in Fallujah in late May.
