Marine Lance Cpl. Robert A. Martinez

Remember Our Heroes

Marine Lance Cpl. Robert A. Martinez, 20, of Splendora, Texas

Lance Cpl Martinez was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.; attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward); killed Dec. 1 by an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Fallujah, Iraq.

Associated Press

A Texan who put his baseball dreams on hold to serve in the Marines was killed in Iraq in the deadliest attack against American troops in Iraq in four months, the U.S. military said Saturday.

Lance Cpl. Robert A. Martinez, 20, of Splendora, Texas, and nine others died Thursday when a roadside bomb exploded while they were on a foot patrol near Fallujah. Eleven others were wounded.

Jeremy Hunt, Martinez's stepfather, said Martinez signed up for the Marines as a junior at Cleveland High School and left for boot camp five days after graduating in 2003.

"He met a Marine recruiter, and he saw the life of a Marine," Hunt said. "He knew they were the best trained and highly motivated branch of the United States military, and he always wanted to be with the best."

Martinez was a pitcher for Cleveland High's varsity baseball team, Hunt said.

"For a long time he always wanted to join the Marines, either that or play baseball," Hunt said. "He went to the Marines first and put baseball on the back burner until he got out."

Hunt said Martinez spent his time outside of baseball and school in the company of his family friends "hanging out and making everybody laugh and smile."

Martinez was with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force out of Twentynine Palms, Calif.

The unit was attached to the Regimental Combat Team 8, which is part of the II Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Martinez deployed for a second tour in Iraq in July after serving a seven-month tour in 2004, Hunt said.

Martinez is survived by his mother and stepfather, Kelly and Jeremy Hunt of Splendora, siblings Candice McGehee and James Michael McGehee of Splendora, and father James Kevin McGehee of Cleveland.

Marine Lance Cpl. Robert A. Martinez was killed in action on 12/01/05.