Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel J. Geary

Died March 20, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

22, of Rome, N.Y.; assigned to 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died March 20 while supporting combat operations in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

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Funeral planned for Marine killed overseas

The Associated Press

ROME, N.Y. — A Marine corporal killed in combat Friday in Afghanistan was planning to marry his fiancee when he returned from his tour in May, his father said.

Funeral services for fallen Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel J. Geary of Rome will be held in St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, said his father, Michael Geary. Other details for the services were not yet available.

Rome Mayor James Brown said the city would provide a police escort and flags will be at half-staff the day of funeral.

The 22-year-old Marine planned to bring his fiancee, Rachel Patterson, from North Carolina to Rome and surprise her by marrying immediately instead of waiting, said the elder Geary.

Being a Marine was what Daniel Geary wanted to do, and that goal helped give him the drive to go back and complete high school after dropping out for a year, his father said. He graduated from Rome Free Academy in 2006.

“He wanted to get his diploma so he could go into the military,” Michael Geary said.

It was Daniel Geary's second tour of duty, and he was going to sign on for a third, his father said. The first tour was in Iraq. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The middle child of seven in his family, Geary was remembered by people who knew him as very outgoing and fun-loving, but also responsible and family oriented.

“We’re very proud off him,” said John Conners, Geary’s godfather and commander of Rome’s Henry P. Smith American Legion Post. “He saw his duty and he did it, and he paid the cost.”

Family friend Della Pray, who got to know him when she served as his Air Force Junior ROTC instructor at Rome Free Academy, said Geary had many friends.

“Quiet wasn’t in his vocabulary,” she said. “He was a prankster. We were always playing jokes on each other.”

Geary “liked to bowl. He loved life. He enjoyed being with his friends,” commented his father. He said his son helped him buy the family’s current home in Rome, where they have lived since 2005.

Craig Vogel, owner of King Pin Lanes, said the Gearys were “a bowling family.” The bowling alley was “kind of subdued” Saturday night because of the sad news.

As a child, Daniel Geary made news in March 1995 when he awakened his father when a fire began in their apartment and pulled his 4-year-old sister from a burning bedroom.

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Hundreds mourn N.Y. Marine who died in Afghanistan

The Associated Press

ROME, N.Y. — An upstate New York community is mourning a Marine killed in Afghanistan two months before he was to get married.

Hundreds of people gathered Saturday in Rome to pay respects to Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Geary. The 22-year-old died last week when a bomb hit his Humvee.

His flag-draped coffin was carried up the steps of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church as bells pealed. Geary is being buried with full military honors.

He joined the Marines after graduating from high school. He was on was his second tour of duty, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. His family says he wanted to sign on for a third tour. The first was in Iraq.

Geary planned to get married in May.

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Fallen Marine remembered for his energy

The Associated Press

Della Pray, who got to know Lance Cpl. Daniel J. Geary when she served as his Air Force ROTC instructor, said he had many friends.

“Quiet wasn’t in his vocabulary,” she said. “He was a prankster. We were always playing jokes on each other.”

Geary, 22, of Rome, N.Y., died March 20 while supporting combat operations in Farah province. He was a 2006 high school graduate and was assigned to Camp Lejeune.

“Daniel was proud of his roots and proud of his family,” Rome Mayor James Brown said. “The people of Rome will never forget Daniel Geary.”

Geary was 18 when he joined the military and has been described by his father, Michael, as a “frisky, young juvenile prankster.”

He had planned to marry his fiancee once his current tour ended, and possibly take some college courses.

He was on his second tour his first was in Iraq.

Geary made news in March 1995, when the then-8-year-old was credited with helping save his 4-year-old sister Elise after she accidentally started a bedroom fire while playing with a lighter.

He also is survived by his mother, Aggie.