Marine Lance Cpl. Francisco R. Jackson

Remember Our Heroes

Marine Lance Cpl. Francisco R. Jackson, 24, of Elizabeth, N.J.

LCpl Jackson was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died Oct. 19, 2010 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

A second Camp Pendleton Marine, part of San Juan Capistrano's "adopted" 1st Battalion, 11th Marines, has been killed in Afghanistan in less than a week, both in roadside bomb blasts.

Lance Cpl. Francisco R. Jackson was killed while on foot patrol during combat operations against enemy forces in Helmand province on Tuesday, according to a 1st Marine Division news release.

Jackson, a 24-year-old field artillery cannoneer from Elizabeth, N.J., was assigned to 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton.

Jackson enlisted in the Marine Corps on Oct. 13, 2009. This was his first combat deployment, the news release said.

His personal service awards include the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and Afghanistan Campaign Medal.

U.S. Marine from Elizabeth dies in Afghanistan
It’s been a hellish month for the U.S. Marines of Camp Pendleton.

In just the past week, ten of their own have been killed in Afghanistan — the youngest 19, the oldest 26 — most of them victims of roadside bombs in the bloody Helmand province.

Today came news of yet another casualty.

Lance Cpl. Francisco R. Jackson, 24, of Elizabeth, was killed Tuesday by an improvised explosive device during a combat operation, said the Department of Defense.

A field artillery cannoneer, Jackson enlisted in the Marine Corps a year ago and was on his first combat deployment. He had been assigned to the 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton in California, and already had been awarded a Purple Heart.

ELIZABETH — Marine Lance Cpl. Francisco R. Jackson called his family in Elizabeth on Monday to deliver a hopeful message from Afghanistan.

"He said, ‘I’ll be home very soon. I want to see you,’" his cousin, Evelyn Cordoba, recalled today. "We were so happy to hear from him."

But the next day, Jackson, 24, was killed by an improvised explosive device during a combat operation in Helmand province, according to the Department of Defense.

He is the 26th service member with ties to New Jersey to die in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001. Roughly 100 others have died in Iraq since the invasion in 2003.

Much of Jackson’s family traveled to Dover Air Force in Delaware today, where his remains arrived.

Coming so soon after Jackson’s phone call from Afghanistan, the shock of his death has devastated the family, said Cordoba, 22, of Elizabeth.

They had already started to make plans for Jackson’s return, expected at the end of November, she said.

"Once, my family went to the Bronx Zoo and he said we were going to have to do that again when he got home," Cordoba said. "This has been hard on everybody."

A field artillery cannoneer, Jackson enlisted in the Marine Corps a year ago and was on his first combat deployment. He had been assigned to the 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and already had been awarded a Purple Heart.

Jackson, who leaves behind a wife and a son, immigrated from the Dominican Republic at a young age and grew up in downtown Elizabeth, Cordoba said.

He was the eldest of four children, with two sisters and one brother, she said.

"He always protected me in school, with guys," Cordoba said.

He attended the William F. Halsey House, part of Elizabeth High School, before transferring to Union County Vocational-Technical Schools in March 2002, a district spokeswoman said.

He decided to enlist last year partly because he had plans to become an engineer, and hoped the Marines would guide him to a better life, Cordoba said.

The military was also a feature of family life, she said: a grandfather served in the Dominican Republic military, Cordoba said.

"He is an example," she said. "He was an excellent Marine, friend, family member. He died as a hero."

Marine Lance Cpl. Francisco R. Jackson was killed in action on 10/19/10.