Marine Lance Cpl. Jared C. Verbeek, 22, of Visalia, Calif.
LCpl Verbeek wsa assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died June 21, 2011 from wounds sustained while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
Joining Corps fulfilled his lifelong dream
By David Castellon
Visalia (Calif.) Times-Delta
VISALIA, Calif. — A Marine from Visalia is the latest casualty in the war in Afghanistan.
Family members said Lance Cpl. Jared C. Verbeek, 22, a 2007 Mt. Whitney High School graduate and married father of an 18-month-old son, died June 21 from injuries sustained from an improvised explosive device.
A Defense Department news release stated that Verbeek died while involved in combat operations in Helmand province in the southwest part of the country.
His cousin by marriage, Joshua Wallace of Visalia, said that from what the family has been told, Verbeek was a member of the Corps’ military police involved in training Afghan law enforcement.
He said the family didn’t know the nature of the patrol he was on or if he or somebody else stepped on the IED. Wallace added that the Marines wouldn’t disclose whether anybody else was injured.
“He was evacuated to a safe zone, and at that point, he succumbed” to his wounds, Wallace said.
Verbeek’s parents, Travis and Rosalia Verbeek, were notified early June 21, local time, of his death by a pair of Marines and a Navy chaplain who showed up at their east Visalia home.
Jared’s wife, Vanessa, was notified later that morning, Wallace said. She’s a 2007 Golden West High School graduate who had moved to her parents’ home in Visalia with the couple’s son, Jacob, from Camp Pendleton so they wouldn’t be alone after Jared deployed in March to Afghanistan.
It was his second deployment, according to officials with the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton.
Verbeek enlisted in the Marines in September 2007 shortly after graduating from high school. Family members said joining the Corps was a goal since he was a little boy.
“He comes from four generations of service members,” said his aunt, Marilu Sisto.
She and Wallace recounted a family story of how Jared would dress in his father’s fatigues and combat boots as a boy, when the elder Verbeek was a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton.
They said Jared asked his mother to shrink one of his father’s T-shirts so he could decorate it with ribbons to simulate medals and stripes and wear it.
Wallace said an officer stopped 7-year-old Jared in the outfit and asked playfully if he was a sergeant.
“He said, ‘No sir, I’m a general,’ ” and received a salute from the officer, Wallace said.
Jared had two older sisters. Sisto said other family members declined to be interviewed.
Wallace said the last time the family saw Jared was just before he deployed in March and if he was concerned for his safety in such a dangerous part of the world, he didn’t let on about it.
“Jared was really private, and he never, ever, would have said anything like that,” he said.
But his mother didn’t hide her worry, Sisto said, noting that her sister urged Jared not to join the Marines in the first place.
“But he had it in his head this was something he had to do,” Wallace said.
And Rosalia Verbeek was particularly scared that she might lose her son if he deployed to Afghanistan, Sisto said. “He said, ‘Mom, it’s always going to be somebody’s son. Why not me?’ ”
She said that since Jared deployed, her sister rarely left home, so as not to miss any calls or online MySpace postings from Jared.
Sisto said Jared posted a note of congratulations on her daughter’s Facebook account when she graduated high school, and on Father’s Day, he was on the phone with his wife planning a cruise with her and their son after his deployment, which was scheduled to end in October.
Still, Rosalia Verbeek worried.
In fact, Sisto said, her sister told her earlier this week that she knew something was wrong with Jared.
“She just knew,” well before being notified her son had died, Sisto said.
Repeating her sister’s words after learning of the death, Sisto said, “I hope that this country appreciates my son’s sacrifice.”
“The Marines and sailors of the 1st Marine Division mourn the loss of Lance Cpl. Verbeek. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family,” division officials stated in a news release.
Verbeek’s service awards include the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal.
Wallace said Verbeek has been nominated posthumously for another Purple Heart.
His body is scheduled to be flown to the military aerial port mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, Del., to be processed and prepared prior to being flown home.
Sisto said some members of the family planned to fly to Dover to view Jared’s remains and accompany him on the flight west.
Marine Lance Cpl. Jared C. Verbeek was killed in action on 6/21/11.
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