Marine Sgt. Nathaniel S. Rock

Remember Our Heroes

Marine Sgt. Nathaniel S. Rock, 26, of Toronto, Ohio.

Sgt Rock was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, Brook Park, Ohio; attached to Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward); killed Aug. 1 by enemy small-arms fire while conducting dismounted operations outside Haditha, Iraq. Also killed were Marine Cpl. Jeffrey A. Boskovitch, Marine Lance Cpl. Roger D. Castleberry Jr., Marine Sgt. David J. Coullard, Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel N. Deyarmin Jr. and Marine Lance Cpl. Brian P. Montgomery.

Sgt Rock joined the Marines after graduating from Toronto High School in 1998.

His father, Tim Rock, said the family hasn't received much information about how his son was killed.

"He was proud to be a Marine -- to be serving his country," Rock said. "However, he was true to his duty and true to his men."


Rock was also a part-time police officer in Martins Ferry, along with his brother, Jared, Adriana Rock said. The Martins Ferry police chief said Rock was a respected officer who performed his job well.

"He was a young police officer that took a vested interest in everyone and especially his work. He was here at every opportunity and I especially liked him," Chief Barry Carpenter said.

Rock said she last spoke to her son about two weeks ago before he left on a mission. He had sent an e-mail to his brother in the last few days.

She said her son loved hunting and fishing. He was scheduled to return home in October.

Rock served in the Marines for six years.

After hearing about Sergeant Nathaniel Rock, a Marine Sniper & part-time Officer for the Martins Ferry Police Department that died in an ambush in Iraq along with 5 other fellow Marines, the Northeast Ohio Dog Training Academy decided to donate one of their dogs, train him as a dual purpose dog and give him to a police department that couldn’t afford a K-9. They named this dog after the fallen Marine "Rock" and will donate him to the department/ handler (Martins Ferry Police Department, Ohio) in May, 2006.

Nate Rock was a Marine who made his presence known wherever he was. Before the platoon left for 29 Palms, he was incorporated into my team, and I quickly came to respect him as a man and a Marine. After arriving in country, he led his own team. We soon became friends and came to know everything about each other, over the past year. He will not only be missed by myself and the platoon, but by his family that he constantly talked about, and his fellow police officers that he served with in Martin's Ferry, Ohio. (Eulogy written by Sgt Casagrande, a scout sniper)

Marine Sgt Nathaniel S. Rock was killed in action on 08/01/05.