Marine Cpl. Jordan R. Stanton

Died March 4, 2011 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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20, of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.; assigned to the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died March 4 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, while conducting combat operations.

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Fallen Marine remembered as driven, full of life

The Associated Press

Growing up, Jordan Stanton and his brothers were known as standout athletes in their Southern California community, where the Marine played football and baseball in high school.

He wrestled, too. But his father told the Orange County Register that Stanton wouldn’t let his athleticism define him. He planned to pursue “a more certain path,” which involved enlisting in the military, his father said.

“He was a planner. It was amazing to see a young man so driven,” said Pastor Doug Elliott with RockIrvine Church.

Stanton, 20, died March 4 in combat in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Camp Lejeune.

More than 1,000 people attended a service for him in his hometown of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. There, friends and family remembered Stanton as full of life — someone ready with a joke and the right thing to say.

“If I know Jordan, right now he’s probably getting a tattoo of angel’s wings and then drinking an energy drink concocted by Jack LeLanne,” said his brother Ryan Stanton, 28.

Jordan Stanton graduated from Trabuco Hills High School in 2008.

His survivors include his father, Robert; mother, Joyce; brothers Ryan, Ethan and Cole; and fiancée, Julie Dickson.