‘He loved being a Marine’

Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Menusa loved being a US Marine and his tour of duty in Iraq was his second. This time, his job was to help secure the oil fields in southern Iraq.

According to the Washington Post, the 33-year-old Filipino-American told his wife, Stacy, not to worry when he learned that his Marine battalion was to be deployed to Kuwait early this year.

He had served in the first Gulf War 12 years ago, Menusa told Stacy. He would be fine.

But soon after crossing into Iraq from Kuwait, Menusa was killed in action on Thursday, "nine years to the day after he and Stacy started dating," the Post reported.

He is the first Filipino-American casualty of the war in Iraq. International newsmagazine Newsweek said he was killed when his battalion clashed with a Republican Guard unit, one of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s best troops.

Menusa’s unit was the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, California, where he specialized in construction and demolition, the Post said.

"He always had a smile on his face. He was so full of life and joy and cracking jokes and making people laugh. That was just him," Stacy Menusa, his wife of seven years, told the US newspaper.

"Sending a husband into war is not the best thing, but I was behind him 100 percent. He died with honor and loved his job, loved his family and he loved being a Marine. I know he wouldn’t change a thing if he had to do it all over again."

Menusa was born in the Philippines. At age 10, he and his mother moved to the United States. He grew up in San Jose, California, and joined the Marines after graduating from high school in 1989, his wife said.

He had been stationed in California, Hawaii, Okinawa, Japan; and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Most recently he had been doing recruitment for the Marines in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Menusas’ son, Joshua, turned three earlier this year.

US defense officials told her little about what her husband was doing when he was killed, other than to say he died in combat, Stacy said. "We just hugged Joshua," she said, "and told him Daddy went home to be with Jesus."

Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Manila released yesterday a list of American soldiers who were either killed, captured or missing in the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Included in the list is Joseph Hudson, another American soldier of Filipino ancestry, who was taken prisoner early in the war.

Embassy spokeswoman Karen Kelley said the list is based on a report by international magazine Newsweek, which said that 53 US soldiers were either killed, captured or missing in the war, so far. All 53 were identified.

At least seven journalists covering the war were either reported killed or missing.

The Philippine Embassy in Washington has received no report so far about any Filipino-American casualty but the home office did receive an e-mail about Menusa, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Victoriano Lecaros said.

Among those killed were identified as Cpl. Jose Garibay, 21; Lance Cpl. David Fribley, 26; Lt. Thomas Adams, 27; Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, 36; Sgt. Michael Blitz, 31; Capt. Ryan Beaupre, 30; Cpl. Evan James, 20; Cpl. Jorge Gonzales, 20; Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25; Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, 22;

Lance Cpl. Brian Rory Buesing, 20; 2Lt. Therrel Shane Childers, 30; Sgt. Bradley Korthaus, 28; Lance Cpl. Michael Williams, 31; 2Lt. Frederick Pokorney Jr., 31;

Lance Cpl. Eric Orlowski, 26; Maj. Kevin Nave, 36; Lance Cpl. Jesus Suarez de Solar, 20; and Lance Cpl. Thomas Slocum, 22, all of the US Marine Corps.

Also killed were Spc. Jamaal Addison, 22; Capt. Christopher Seifert, 27; Pfc. Howard Johnson II (no age given) and Spc. Brandon Tobler, 19, all of the US Army; and hospital corpsman Michael Vann Johnson, 25, US Navy.

Most of the youngest among the US troops were fresh out of high school while the older ones were mostly veterans of past US campaigns, including the first Gulf War, who signed up one more time to serve their country, Newsweek said. — With Pia Lee-Brago