A young Camp Pendleton Marine on his second tour of duty in Iraq died Saturday when a roadside bomb was detonated as he drove past it in a Humvee near the city of Hadithah, military officials said.
The Defense Department said Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, who was known to his friends as "Mikey;" was taking part in combat operations in the region between the Iraqi border with Syria and the city of Ramadi.
The Associated Press reported he was killed in an ambush on a joint Iraqi-U.S. patrol that also killed 15 civilians and eight insurgents.
Terrazas' death brings the number of area based Marines killed in Iraq to 264.
Terrazas joined the Marines in 2003 shortly after graduating from high school in El Paso, Texas. Terrazas was with Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
He planned to spend four years in the service and then pursue a career in law enforcement, his friend Marisa Jaimes said Tuesday;
"It's just horrible," Jaimes said. "All these kids ... Mikey was just 20 and it's terrible that I will never get to see him again. He had made it through one tour and it never occurred to me that he wouldn't come home this time."
Jaimes came to know Terrazas through his aunt, and he spent many hours with Jaimes, her daughter and her daughter's father when the trio lived near Camp Pendleton.
After he graduated fromboot camp and began infantry training, Terrazas would spend weekends with the couple and developed a close bond with her 3 year old daughter, Elysha.
"He became a part of the family," said Jaimes, now a Los Angeles resident. "He adored my daughter and was really helpful."
In his first tour of duty in Iraq, Terrazas took part in heavy fighting in the city.
His aunt, Rosario Terrazas, told the El Paso Times newspaper that he had been cited for bravery after an ambush on Aug. 18, 2004. That incident began with the explosion of a roadside bomb. Terrazas moved to high ground and reported the battlefield conditions to his commanders and wounded an insurgent attacker, she told the paper.
Terrazas came home with his unit in Januar and when he was preparing to head back in September, Jaimes said he was confident and optimistic despite having lost two of his Marine buddies in Iraq last year.
"The only thing he said was that in every war people on both sides have to die and there were a lot of worse ways to die," she said.
His decision to join the Marine Corps was in part a salute to two uncles who had served in the Corps in the 1990s, she said.
"He knew how proud his family was of them and he wanted them to be proud of him," she said.
Rather than go out and party, he preferred a quiet evening at home or a simple meal at a restaurant. Jaimes said,
"He wanted to complete his service, go home and have a family and kids, He wasn't one of those kids who was always out dating and drinking."
His awards included the Combat Action Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal and Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.
"He was such a sweet kid Jaimes said. "It seems like such a waste."