NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense
No. 797-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 5, 2005
DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Lance Corporal Christopher J. Dyer, 19, of Cincinnati, Ohio, died August 3, 2005, when the amphibious assault vehicle in which he was a passenger was hit by an improvised explosive device. Dyer's unit was conducting combat operations south of Haditha, Iraq. Dyer was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve's 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Columbus, Ohio. As part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, his unit was attached to Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).
Media with questions about this Marine can call the Marine Forces Reserve Public Affairs Office at (504) 678-4178.
Lance Corporal Christopher Jenkins Dyer, 19, of Evendale
A candlelight vigil will be at 9 p.m. Sunday in the village square in Glendale to honor and remember Dyer, according to Kelly Rickenbaugh, director of communications at Princeton City Schools, Dyer's alma mater.
Dyer's body is expected to arrive in Cincinnati on Monday, according to his family. Visitation is scheduled from 3-9 p.m. Tuesday at Tri-County Baptist Church on Ohio 747. The funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the church, family said. Dyer's burial is scheduled for 1 p.m. August 22, 2005, at Arlington National Cemetery.
The death of Lance Corporal Christopher J. Dyer, 19, isn't dissuading his sister, Sarah, from following in his footprints and becoming a Marine.
She had already decided to join the military. When the 17-year-old Princeton High School student learned of her brother's death, she said, she was in the process of applying for appointments to the U.S. Naval Academy or the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Now his death has made her more determined than ever to become a Marine to honor her brother.
“As a sister of Marine Lance Corporal Christopher Dyer, I still hold my ambitions to join the Marine Corps,” she wrote Saturday on The Enquirer's online message board. “I have written a poem for my brother.”
She ends the poem with “Semper Fi,” the Marine Corps motto. (The Latin phrase “Semper Fidelis” means “Always Faithful.”)
Dear Dear Brother
You have gone home,
To your Father, your Savior,
Your Kingdom is come.
Dear Dear Brother,
You fought bravely as a knight,
You are a Devil Dog with the fearsest bite.
Dear Dear Brother
We miss you so,
Your father, mother, sisters.
All your friends and Joe.
Dear Dear Brother
We will see you again,
After triumphs, and troubles, and all of our pain.
Dear dear brother,
Stay Tough on high.
We will remember you.
SEMPER FI
August 17, 2005
The mother of a Marine killed in Iraq urged mourners Wednesday not to let their anger and sadness turn them against the U.S. fight in Iraq.
“Honor me in this way,” Kathy Dyer said during a memorial service for Lance Corporal Christopher J. Dyer, 19, of the Cincinnati suburb of Evendale.
At the funeral at Tri-County Baptist Church, Kathy Dyer delivered what she believed would have been her son's own message: “It has been with the greatest pride I have served … fighting to preserve freedom.”
She said he would want mourners to continue supporting the troops in the war against terrorism.
Dyer and eight other Marines from Columbus-based Lima Company were among 14 killed August 3, 2005, in the deadliest roadside bombing of U.S. troops in Iraq. The company is part of the Cleveland-based 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, which has been hit hard by attacks that have killed 16 members in recent weeks.
Dyer urged support for the troops in Iraq a day after the parents of Lance Corporal Edward Schroeder II, another Ohio-based Marine killed in Iraq, urged Americans to voice their opposition to the war.
Later Wednesday, vigils were planned across the country in support of Cindy Sheehan, a slain soldier's mother who has been camping outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. She has promised to stay for his monthlong ranch visit unless he meets with her and other grieving families.
At Dyer's funeral, about 1,000 mourners were told about the kindness and drive of the college-bound honor student who had a lifelong interest in the military. Relatives said he chose the Marines as a way to serve his country and challenge himself.
“He saw this as just another way to measure himself, another test,” said his father, John Dyer. “Chris didn't want to be less than the best at anything.”
Janet Hertlein, whose son Michael grew up with Dyer, said Dyer loved the Marines.
“Chris and all those over there are fighting for all of us,” Hertlein said.
18 August 2005:
WEST CHESTER, Ohio – The mother of a Marine killed in Iraq urged mourners Wednesday not to let their anger and sadness turn them against the U.S. fight in Iraq.
“Honor me in this way,” Kathy Dyer said during a memorial service for Lance Corporal Christopher J. Dyer, 19, of the Cincinnati suburb of Evendale.
At the funeral at Tri-County Baptist Church, Kathy Dyer delivered what she believed would have been her son's own message: “It has been with the greatest pride I have served . . . fighting to preserve freedom.”
She said he would want mourners to continue supporting the troops in the war against terrorism.
Dyer and eight other Marines from Columbus-based Lima Company were among 14 killed Aug. 3 in the deadliest roadside bombing of U.S. troops in Iraq.
The company is part of the Cleveland-based 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, which has been hit hard by attacks that have killed 16 members in recent weeks.
Dyer urged support for the troops in Iraq a day after the parents of Lance Corporal Edward Schroeder II, another Ohio-based Marine killed in Iraq, urged Americans to voice their opposition to the war in Iraq.
Later Wednesday, vigils were planned across the country in support of Cindy Sheehan, a slain soldier's mother who has been camping outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. She has promised to stay for his monthlong ranch visit unless he meets with her and other grieving families.
At Dyer's funeral, about 1,000 mourners were told about the kindness and drive of the college-bound honor student who had a lifelong interest in the military. Relatives said he chose the Marines as a way to serve his country and challenge himself.
“He saw this as just another way to measure himself, another test,” said his father, John Dyer. “Chris didn't want to be less than the best at anything.”
Janet Hertlein, whose son Michael grew up with Dyer, said Dyer loved the Marines.
“Chris and all those over there are fighting for all of us,” Hertlein said.
Ohio Marine reservist buried in Arlington National Cemetery
August 22, 2005
Lance Corporal. Christopher J. Dyer, a 19-year-old Marine reservist from a Cincinnati suburb who loved to dive and looked forward to attending Ohio State University, was buried Monday at Arlington National Cemetery.
John Dyer has previously said his son thrived on challenges and joined the Marines because of his sense of duty and the challenge to be “one of the best.”
On a hot, clear day, amid a landscape of green grass, white headstones and shade trees, Dyer's family and friends watched as a Marine honor guard paid final respects to one of their own at the nation's cemetery for military veterans.
Dyer's cremated remains and a folded American flag were marched from a black car to a small table in front of the grieving family. Marines then carefully unfolded the flag over his urn, shading it while a chaplain performed a short service. He saluted the family when he finished, and they stood while seven Marines fired rifles. After the echoes of the shots subsided, another Marine played “Taps” on a bugle.
The flag was then refolded and presented to Dyer's father by a Marine who got down on one knee.
At the end of the funeral, family members knelt and bowed their heads before his urn. They did not speak to reporters after the ceremony.
Dyer graduated with honors in 2004 from Princeton High School near Cincinnati, where he played the viola in the school orchestra and was a member of the varsity dive team.
He was conducting combat operations on Aug. 3 when an improvised explosive device hit the amphibious vehicle in which he was riding. The attack killed 14 Marines, eight of whom were from Dyer's Lima Company with the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment of the 4th Marine Division.
Dyer's was the 170th funeral at Arlington for soldiers killed in the Iraq war.
By Lila de Tantillo
Courtesy of the Washington Post
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Lance Corporal Christopher Jenkins Dyer enlisted in the Marines and served in Iraq because he believed in the United States' mission to defend freedom in the fledging democracy, friends and family said.
On August 3, 2005, he sacrificed his life for that cause when a roadside bomb detonated near the amphibious assault vehicle he was riding in, south of Haditha. Dyer, 19, was the youngest of 14 Marines killed in the explosion, and one of nine in his Columbus, Ohio-based Lima Company to die in the attack.
He was assigned to the Marine Forces Reserve's 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division.
“Chris was truly proud to give his life for freedom,” longtime family friend Keith Stone of Fairfield, Ohio, wrote in an e-mail to the Washington Post.
Yesterday, about 50 mourners watched as Dyer was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. During the service, Dyer's father, John, wiped his eyes with a handkerchief as the Marine's mother, Kathy, leaned close. Marine Brig. Gen. Doug Stone knelt before the grieving father and presented him with an American flag.
Dyer, who hailed from Evendale, Ohio — outside Cincinnati — had been memorialized Wednesday at a service at Tri-County Baptist Church in West Chester, Ohio. A giant American flag was stretched between two fire engines in front of the church as hundreds gathered to mourn the tall, long-legged young man.
“It is obvious that Chris learned from his father at a very early age the value of giving to others,” Robyne Magness of Mason, Ohio, who has known the Dyers for nearly a decade, wrote in an e-mail to the Post. “Chris committed his life to a cause and a purpose that was greater than himself. He did at 19 what so many others strive for their entire lives — to find a cause for which you would give your life.”
Jason Rosser, 19, was a classmate of Dyer's from seventh grade through high school. He remembered his friend writing an essay in junior high about wanting to join the military when he grew up; as the years passed, Dyer never let anything interfere with his goal, Rosser said.
“He lived every day to the fullest — if I was given 100 years more I still couldn't catch up to him,” said Rosser, a student at Ohio State University.
Dyer had planned to enroll at Ohio State when he was called up last summer by the Marines, Rosser said. Dyer, who was scheduled to come home this fall, planned to begin classes at the university in January and major in finance, he said.
While serving in Iraq, Dyer remained close to those who had watched him grow up and was grateful for his roots in the community. In the spring, he took the time to write to the second- and third-graders in Keith Stone's Sunday school class to thank them for the letters they had sent him in Iraq — correspondence he had enjoyed sharing with fellow Marines.
“Chris was a young man who had tremendous drive and tremendous potential,” recalled Raymond L. Spicher, principal of Princeton High School in Sharonville, Ohio, from which Dyer graduated last year. He said the school will hold a moment of silence in Dyer's honor at its first home football game this season.
Spicher recalled Dyer's enthusiasm for academics, as a participant in the school's college-level International Baccalaureate program, and athletics, as a champion swimmer and diver. He also played viola in the school's concert band. “He was really intense about a lot of aspects of life but also fun-loving,” Spicher said. “He knew how to have a good time.”
Dyer was the 170th person killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom to be buried at Arlington.
Ohio Marine Reservist Buried in Arlington
Monday, August 22, 2005
ARLINGTON, Va. — Lance Corporal Christopher J. Dyer, a 19-year-old Marine reservist from a Cincinnati suburb who loved to dive and looked forward to attending Ohio State University, was buried Monday at Arlington National Cemetery.
John Dyer has previously said his son thrived on challenges and joined the Marines because of his sense of duty and the challenge to be “one of the best.”
Dyer's cremated remains and a folded American flag were marched from a black car to a small table in front of the grieving family. Marines then carefully unfolded the flag over his urn, shading it while a chaplain performed a short service. He saluted the family when he finished, and they stood while seven Marines fired rifles. After the echoes of the shots subsided, another Marine played “Taps” on a bugle.
The flag was then refolded and presented to Dyer's father by a Marine who got down on one knee.
At the end of the funeral, family members knelt and bowed their heads before his urn. They did not speak to reporters after the ceremony.
Dyer graduated with honors in 2004 from Princeton High School near Cincinnati, where he played the viola in the school orchestra and was a member of the varsity dive team.
He was conducting combat operations on August 3, 2005, when an improvised explosive device hit the amphibious vehicle in which he was riding. The attack killed 14 Marines, eight of whom were from Dyer's Lima Company with the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment of the 4th Marine Division.
Dyer's was the 170th funeral at Arlington for soldiers killed in the Iraq war.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Evendale Marine laid to rest in Arlington
By Malia Rulon
Courtesy of the Enquirer
Under a blue sky in a large field of grass dotted by more than 100 white headstones of other soldiers killed in Iraq, Lance Corporal Christopher J. Dyer was saluted with honors Monday at Arlington National Cemetery.
Dyer, 19, of Evendale, was the youngest of five Greater Cincinnati Marine reservists killed Aug. 3 when a roadside bomb exploded near Haditha, Iraq.
On Monday, the young man who dreamed of joining an investment firm and getting his pilot's license became the 170th American soldier slain in Iraq to be buried at Arlington.
About 1,850 Americans have been killed since the war started. Dyer is the fourth Greater Cincinnati soldier killed in Iraq to be interred at Arlington. Lance Corporal Timothy Bell Jr. of West Chester Township, who was killed in the same attack, was buried there last week.
Dyer, a Princeton High School honor student, had planned to begin classes in the honors program at Ohio State University this fall.
His parents, John and Kathy Dyer, sat in the front row at their only son's funeral, facing his urn, which stood on a pedestal shaded by an American flag held aloft by six Marines.
“For me, personally, it's almost unbearable,” John Dyer said after the ceremony. “He and I had a lot of plans for what he wanted to do when he got out. We had planned to visit Washington together, for one.”
Dyer was remembered at memorial services held in Ohio last week.
Monday's ceremony was short and peaceful, punctuated only by the sharp popping of 21 shots fired by a seven-man rifle team and the wailing sound of a lone bugler playing taps.
About 70 guests sat or stood behind the Dyers, including Ohio Senator Mike DeWine of Cedarville and Representative Steve Chabot of Westwood. They watched as the six Marines surrounding Dyer's urn solemnly folded the flag.
It was presented to Dyer's father.
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Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.
Reviewed by: Michael Howard