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- The People Behind The Sacrifice
Marine Cpl. Garry W. Rimes
Died April 1, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom
30, of Santa Maria, Calif.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; attached to the 2nd Marine Division in Iraq; killed April 1 by enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq.
SoCal Marine killed in Iraq protecting an injured Marine
By Associated Press
SANTA MARIA, Calif. — Cpl. Garry Wesley Rimes was killed protecting another Marine.
After a diesel truck drove into a building and exploded, a badly injured Marine crawled from the rubble. Rimes and others encircled the medics as they treated Lance Cpl. Daryl F. Brown Jr. Insurgents fired, killing Rimes.
“Corporeal Rimes is our hero,” Brown’s sister Danica Love of Baytown, Texas, wrote in a letter to the Santa Maria Times. “My whole family feels a deep gratitude to him.”
Rimes, an anti-tank gunner, was killed April 1 in Ramadi, Iraq. He was assigned to the 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. While in Iraq, he was attached to the 2nd Marine Division and was killed after less than a month in country.
On Tuesday, friends and relatives remembered Rimes’ generosity, sense of humor and his sense of honor.
“Ever since he was a kid, he wanted to be a Marine,” his younger sister Patty Rimes of Santa Maria said. “He wanted to be in the military.”
A native of the Philippines, Rimes immigrated to the United States in 1996. He joined the Marines in 1997, hoping the military would help in his goal to become a U.S. citizen.
The 30-year-old has been awarded the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
Rimes took a break from the military in 2001 but couldn’t stay away for long. He re-enlisted in 2004, working in the Marines recruiting office in Santa Maria.
“I know he was a hard worker, he was dependable. He was always on time,” said Marine Sgt. James Gordon, who leads the Santa Maria recruiters. “He missed the Marine Corps.”
In addition to a sister, Rimes is survived by his wife, who lives in the Philippines, and his mother, who lives in Milwaukee.