Four members of the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, died Wednesday while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan, the Defense Department announced. The Marines were killed by an improvised explosive device while they were conducting mounted operations, the 1st Marine Division said in statements that also expressed condolences to the Marines’ families.
* Lance Cpl. Joseph E. Rodewald, 21, of Albany, Ore. The machine gunner, who enlisted in November 2007, was on his first combat deployment. His awards and decorations include the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. His family told the Albany Democrat Herald newspaper that their son, a former high school wrestler and track-and-field athlete, was engaged to be married he would have turned 22 on Oct. 26.
