Marine Lance Cpl. John T. Sims Jr.

Died April 10, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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21, of Alexander City, Ala.; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed April 10 by hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq.

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Marine killed in Iraq buried in Alabama hometown

Associated Press

ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. — Hands over their hearts, people stood outside homes and businesses as the funeral procession passed for a hometown Marine killed in fighting in Iraq.

Lance Cpl. John “J.T.” Sims Jr., 21, of Alexander City, died April 10 from hostile fire in the Al Anbar province. More than 500 people attended his memorial service Monday.

Sims was among three high school buddies who joined the Marine Corps on the same day in 2001. A few months later, when terrorists struck on Sept. 11, Sims was ready to fight, said Cpl. Stephen Barrett.

“J.T. was very tough,” said Barrett, one of the three who joined that day. “He was just 5-foot-3, but he thought he was 7’5”. After the attacks, he was ready to go.”

A 2001 graduate of Benjamin Russell High School, Sims was remembered as a practical joker who wrestled and made good grades. He worked at a fast-food restaurant before entering the service.

Sims was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

As the procession passed on the way to the cemetery, some stood along the road watching with their hand over their heart. Some, including schoolchildren, held American flags.

“Seeing the people outside of their homes and businesses with their families and some with flags, just proves what a great town we have,” said Rep. Betty Carol Graham D-Alexander City, who tried to hold back tears. “I was very proud of this town.”

A fire truck used its ladder to unfurl a huge American flag at the entrance to the cemetery.

Sims was survived by his mother, Margaret Peppers Kellum, and her husband, Jerry Kellum of Alexander City; his father, John Thomas Sims Sr. of Millbrook; two sisters, a half-brother and half-sister and three stepsisters.

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Friends recall Marine killed in Iraq as fun loving

ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. — A young Marine killed in Iraq was recalled by his friends as a good-natured prankster and by his mother as being cut out for the service.

Lance Cpl. John T. Sims, 21, died from hostile fire in Al Anbar Province. His mother, Margaret Kellum, was informed Saturday.

“You couldn’t be sad around J.T.,” one of his best friends, Phillip Ashworth, said Monday. “He just would not allow it.”

Sims, about 5-foot-4, was a graduate of Benjamin Russell High School, where he made the wrestling team his senior year and made good grades. One of his favorite sayings was, “That doesn’t hurt.” He worked at the Arby’s drive-in on U.S. 280 for about two years.

When he saw friends in the drive-through lane, he would get on the loudspeaker and tell them there was no food left and to try Wendy’s, friends recalled. While visiting Wal-Mart, he got on the intercom and asked Ashworth and another good friend, Mickey Griggs, to marry him.

At some point, he apparently decided he needed some direction, and joined the Marines.

“He said that if he’d a stayed here, that he would’ve never made anything out of himself ... and the Marines were the only ones who could force him to make something out of himself,” his mother said.

He served with the 2nd Battalion with the 4th Regiment of the 1st Marine Division out of Camp Pendleton, Calif. His mother said she was told he was taken to a Baghdad hospital, where he died while undergoing surgery. He was the 19th Alabamian serving in the military to have died in Iraq since hostilities began.

“My son died doing what he wanted to do, and that was to be a Marine,” his mother said.

Sims joined the Marines in June of 2001. One of his two older sisters, Daphne Harlow, said her brother was eager to be part of whatever punishment was brought to those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.

— Associated Press