Pentagon Says 2 Pendleton Marines Killed

The Department of Defense says two Camp Pendleton-based marines, from Ohio and New Jersey, have died in Afghanistan.
     
The government said Monday that Lt. Col. Mario Carazo, 41, of Springfield, Ohio; and Major James Weis, 37, of Toms River, N.J., died Thursday while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Both men were decorated pilots who also served in Iraq.
     
Weis joined the corps in 1994. Carazo entered the marines in 1987. Among his awards is the Bronze Star.
     
The government did not release further details of the deaths. The military on Thursday reported that two service members died that day in a helicopter crash in Helmand province.
     
Carazo and Weis were assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force.

This is proving to be a difficult week for local families of deployed service members.
   
A sailor with local ties who went missing in Afghanistan is now feared dead. Justin McNeley is the son of Encinitas fire marshal George McNeley. He learned of his son's death on Monday morning.
   
Justin and another sailor went missing Friday in Afghanistan's Logar province.  The Taliban is claiming it ambushed the sailors, killing one of them and taking the other hostage.

The U.S. military has not confirmed that report.

Also on Monday came word that an Army Staff Sgt. Conrad Mora from San Diego was one of four soldiers killed Saturday in Afghanistan.

Mora's Facebook page showed that he was very proud of his Army service and revealed that he moved frequently in his six years with the Army, from Fort Sill, in Oklahoma, to Korea to Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

The Morse High School graduate was on his second deployments to Afghanistan when he was killed.

The Department of Defense said Mora and three other U.S. soldiers were killed Saturday in Qalat, Afghanistan, when insurgents blew up their vehicle with an IED.

Contact Us