Our Latest American Hero #5

almarfitzgerald
Originally uploaded by Randuwa.

These posts in this new series are only a sampling of the thousands of heroes who have given their lives for you and me.

Marine 2nd Lt. Almar L. Fitzgerald, 23, of Lexington, S.C.; assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.; attached to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward); died Feb. 21 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, of wounds sustained Feb. 18 when an improvised explosive device detonated during combat operations against enemy forces in Ramadi, Iraq.


“Marine Who Appeared in Documentary Dies”

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Marine 2nd Lt. Almar Fitzgerald, a Lexington native, has died from injuries sustained in a weekend roadside bomb attack in Iraq, the Marine Corps confirmed Thursday.

Fitzgerald, a 2004 graduate of The Citadel, died Tuesday in a military hospital in Germany where he was being treated. He had been in Iraq about six months and was scheduled to return home next month.

The Citadel says Fitzgerald is the 11th graduate to die in the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. He is the 35th service member from South Carolina to be killed, according to a count by The Associated Press.

“He felt like it was something he had always wanted to do,” said Maj. Ken Boes, a tactical officer on The Citadel staff who helped Fitzgerald get in Officer Candidate School. “He wanted to serve his country ... and he wanted to challenge himself.”

During his senior year, Fitzgerald served as executive officer of Company M, 3rd Battalion and worked as a supervisor for a cadet-run phone bank soliciting donations for the state’s military college.

“He had such a contagious personality,” said Rachel Meuser, the college’s assistant director of annual giving. “He genuinely cared about people.”

Fitzgerald appeared in a documentary produced by Marine Corps Times called “Making of a Marine Officer” and spoke about the realities of military life. He told an interviewer about a table at Officer Candidate School covered with photographs of Marines killed in battle.

“The purpose of that is to be basically a reality check,” he said in the interview. “This could be you in the next couple of months — just a picture.”