Marine Maj. Gerald M. Bloomfield II

Died November 2, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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38, of Ypsilanti, Mich.; assigned to the Marine Light-Attack Helicopter Squadron 369, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; attached to 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, II MEF (Forward); killed Nov. 2 when his AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter crashed while flying in support of security and stabilization operations near Ramadi, Iraq. Also killed was Capt. Michael D. Martino.

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Michigan Marine killed in helicopter crash in Iraq

Associated Press

YPSILANTI, Mich. — A 38-year-old Marine pilot from Michigan and his co-pilot from Virginia were killed when their helicopter crashed near Ramadi, Iraq, the Pentagon and family members say.

Maj. Gerald M. Bloomfield II of Ypsilanti and Capt. Michael Martino, 32, of Fairfax, Va., were aboard an AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter that crashed Wednesday, the Defense Department said in a news release.

Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed Thursday that it shot down a U.S. attack helicopter near Ramadi.

The helicopter crashed during daylong fighting Wednesday in the insurgent stronghold 70 miles west of Baghdad. Besides the two crewmen, an American lieutenant died when a bomb exploded as he was rushing to the crash site.

The authenticity of the statement could not be determined. It appeared on an Islamic Web site and bore the nickname of the group’s spokesman, Abu Maysara al-Iraqi.

The U.S. military said the cause of the crash was undetermined but said witnesses reported seeing what they thought was firing at the helicopter before it broke into pieces and crashed.

Bloomfield and Martino were with the Marine Light-Attack Helicopter Squadron 369, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Bloomfield joined the ROTC while a student at Eastern Michigan University because military service gave him the opportunity to live out his love for education and the armed forces, his father, Gerald Bloomfield, told the Detroit Free Press.

The Michigan Marine volunteered for a third tour in Iraq because “it was worth fighting for,” his father quoted him as saying.

“He strongly believed in what he was doing,” stepmother Judy Bloomfield told The Detroit News. “He wasn’t afraid. He wanted to fight for his country.”

The father said he last spoke to his son a week ago when the Marine called him at work.

“He said, ‘I fly high and try not to get hit,”’ the father said. “I told him I loved him and to stay safe.”

Bloomfield was born in Detroit, graduated from Fowlerville High School in 1984 and from Eastern Michigan in 1988. He also earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering, his family said.

Bloomfield also is survived by wife Julie and 13-year-old son Ryan.

Bloomfield is at least the 67th member of the U.S. armed forces with known Michigan ties to die in Iraq.