Army Sgt. Martin 'Mick' LaMar

Died January 15, 2011 Serving During Operation New Dawn

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43, of Sacramento, Calif.; assigned to 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died Jan. 15 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.

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Soldier previously served as Marine

The Associated Press

Martin LaMar’s family says he had wanted to serve in the military since he was a young boy. He ended up enlisting twice.

Soon after graduating high school in 1986, he joined the Marines and served for four years. Following a decade of working as an electrician and with an armored truck company, LaMar joined the Army in 2007 despite relatives’ efforts to talk him out of the decision.

His brother-in-law Gilbert Alvarado told the Sacramento (Calif.) Bee that LaMar “wanted to go back.”

“He wanted to fight for his country,” Alvarado said.

LaMar, 43, and another soldier died Jan. 15 after an Iraqi soldier they were training opened fire in Mosul. LaMar had been assigned to Fort Hood, Texas.

He was from Sacramento, and graduated from Oakmont High School in Roseville, Calif.

A “great guy with a big heart” who loved his family, according to his brother-in-law, LaMar died on his wedding anniversary. His next leave was set to start Jan. 30, and he would have seen his three-month-old daughter for the first time then.

In addition to his wife, Josephine Alvarado LaMar, of Sacramento, and their infant daughter, LaMar’s survivors include three older daughters and a 7-year-old son.