Marine Lance Cpl. Steven A. Stacy

Died July 5, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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23, of Coos Bay, Ore.; assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died July 5 from wounds sustained while conducting combat operations in Taqaddum, Iraq. Also killed was Cpl. Jeremy D. Allbaugh.

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Oregon Marine dies in Iraq

The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregonian who enlisted hoping to scuba dive in the exotic places the Marines would send him was shot to death in the town of Karma in Iraq, his family said.

Lance Cpl. Steven Stacy, 23, of Coos Bay died July 5 in the town near Fallujah.

He graduated from Marshfield High School in 2003. He was in the 1st Marines, 3rd Battalion, based in Camp Pendleton, Calif., The World of Coos Bay reported.

His mother, Dana Potts, said the young man known as “Scuba Steve” cited that passion and his confusion about what to do with his life as reasons for enlisting in 2005. She said her son hoped to dive in places such Singapore, Thailand and Kuwait.

A friend, Chris Stevens, told the paper that Stacy didn’t realize that dream, but did get some snorkeling in.

Dana Potts and Stacy’s stepfather, Robert Potts, said Stacy always wanted to be in the military. They were glad he joined, but nervous he chose to be a rifleman.

“He told us that was the best decision he ever made — even if he never came back from Iraq,” his mother said. “That that was the best thing in the world he ever had done.”

Her husband agreed.

“It turned him into a man,” he said.

Separately, the Defense Department reported that Army Spc. Michelle Ring, 24, died July 5 in Baghdad after being hit by mortar fire inside Camp Liberty. She was part of the 92nd Military Police Battalion, out of Fort Benning, Ga., the Defense Department said.

Ring, who lives in Martin, Tenn., went to school in McMinnville before her family moved to Alaska, where she graduated from Chugiak High School, her mother, Shirley Stearns of McMinnville, said.

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Hundreds gather to say final good-bye to Coos Bay Marine

The Associated Press

COOS BAY, Ore. — Flags across Oregon’s South Coast stood at half-staff July 14 as hundreds of people gathered to honor the life of Lance Cpl. Steven Stacy, who was buried with full military honors.

Stacy, a Marine Corps rifleman in the 1st Marines, 3rd Battalion, died July 5 from a gunshot wound to the neck while on patrol about 6 miles outside of Fallujah, Iraq.

Described as a gentle soul, Stacy was the son of Dana Potts and her husband Robert, of Coos Bay, and Stanley Stacy, of Albany.

The 23-year-old graduate of Marshfield High School had arrived in Iraq only three weeks before his death.

Under an overcast sky, dozens of veterans and their families lined the cemetery drive, holding flags and saluting the motorcade as it arrived.

“I think Corporal Stacy’s response to trying times was to provide strength, which I’m sure he found in the love he had or received from each and every one of you,” said Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who spoke at the graveside service

The Purple Heart that was awarded to Stacy for receiving wounds in action while in Iraq was given to his mother July 14.