Army Spc. Marco D. Ross

Died August 25, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

---

20, of Memphis, Tenn.; assigned to the 115th Forward Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; killed Aug. 25 when enemy mortars hit his camp in Baghdad.

---

Memphis soldier killed in mortar attack

Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis soldier killed in Iraq dreamed of going to college and opening a real estate office after leaving the Army, an aunt said.

Spc. Marco D. Ross, 20, died when mortar rounds fell on a small Army base in Baghdad last week.

“He was a really good boy,” said Cora Liggins, an aunt designated to speak for his family. “We all loved him dearly.”

Ross graduated from Fairley High School in Memphis in 2002 and joined the Army a month later. He was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

Liggins said the family learned of his death on Thursday. His mother, Dianne Liggins, and stepfather, Roosevelt Liggins, were too upset to talk publicly about Ross, his aunt said this weekend.

Liggins described her nephew, an honor roll student in high school, as quiet and polite.

“It’s hard to find a good child these days that doesn’t give you a bunch of back-talk, and I never saw him do that,” Liggins said.

Ross was a petroleum supply specialist with the 1st Cavalry’s 115th Forward Support Battalion.