Army Sgt. Martin J. ‘Mick’ LaMar

Remember Our Heroes

Army Sgt. Martin J. ‘Mick’ LaMar, 43, of Sacramento, Calif.

Sgt LaMar was assigned to 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died Jan. 15, 2011 in Mosul of wounds sustained when an Iraqi soldier from the unit with which he was training shot him with small-arms fire. Also killed was Sgt. Michael P. Bartley.

MOSUL, IRAQ - A Sacramento soldier has been shot to death by an Iraqi soldier he was training.

Spc. Martin J. "Mick" LaMar, 43, was shot Jan. 15 in Mosul, Iraq. The Iraqi soldier also shot Sgt. Michael P. Bartley, 23, of Barnhill, Ill.

Both soldiers were assigned to the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

A news release said a third U.S. soldier was wounded. It was not immediately clear what happened to the Iraqi soldier who shot them.

One of LaMar's friends called News10 to clarify the soldier's name.

"He hated being called Martin," said Wylie Guadamuz. "We called him Mick or Micky," he said.

Guadamuz said LaMar served as a Marine in the first Gulf War and later joined the Army. "He lived to be a soldier. He loved it."

Guadamuz said Mick LaMar is survived by his wife, Josephine, and five children. Josephine and the three youngest children were living in Ft. Hood, he said.

Wylie Guadamuz wrote:

"thank you all for the prayers and thoughts. he hated being called martin. he liked being called micky or mick. and its LaMar. that would have really bugged him!! he loved serving. being in and going back was all he talked about. he was doing what he loved and believed in. he was coming home next week. mick will be sorely missed. thanks again for all the prayers." gguada

MOSUL, IRAQ —
A Sacramento soldier who was killed in Iraq was scheduled to come home that very day, but his deployment was postponed for one week.

It's a tough loss for family members, who say 43-year-old Specialist Martin Lamar was a family man and all-around great guy.

"He had a newborn daughter he hasn't met yet," says Lamar's brother-in-law, Gilbert Alvarado. "He loved his family, his wife, his kids. He was a provider."

According to The Department of Defense, Lamar and one other soldier were killed by an Iraqi soldier they were training. Alvarado says the Iraqi soldier wasn't supposed to be using live ammunition, that it was an insurgent who infiltrated the military. "[The insurgent] ambushed [Lamar] and another fellow soldier. It was definitely a planned killing. The insurgency is still active."

The Iraqi soldier was killed as well. This was Spc. Lamar's second tour of duty in Iraq. Alvarado says he's always been gung-ho about the military. "If there was any way he wanted to go, this was the way he wanted to go, serving his country. That's a big honor for us, the family, I'm sure for the country, too."

Micky Lamar went to Oakmont High School in Roseville. Now, his family just wants him home. "Hopefully in the next week or so we'll bring him home to Sacramento and give him the right burial," says Alvarado.

Spc. Martin Lamar died January 15th, along with 23-year-old Michael Bartley of Barnhill, Illinois.

Alvarado wants people to remember that there's still a lot of fighting in Iraq, that our soldiers are still dying. "Hopefully this death won't be in vain, it will be for our freedom."

Army Sgt. Martin J. ‘Mick’ LaMar was killed in action on 1/15/11.