Marine Sgt. Alan D. Sherman

Died June 29, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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36, of Brick, N.J.; assigned to the 6th Engineer Support Battalion, 4th Force Service Support Group, Marine Corps Reserve, Folsom, Pa.; killed June 29 when a roadside bomb exploded next to his Humvee as he and four other Marines were traveling southeast of Baghdad.

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N.J. Marine reservist killed in Iraq

Associated Press

FOLSOM, Pa. — A New Jersey Marine reportedly was among three American servicemen killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, military officials said Wednesday.

The reservist was identified as Sgt. Alan Sherman, 36, according to broadcast reports.

Sherman was serving with a reserve unit based in Delaware County, Pa., WNBC News 10 in Philadelphia reported Wednesday.

Also reported killed in Tuesday’s blast were Cpl. John Todd III, 25, of Bridgeport, Pa., and Cpl. Patrick Adle, 21, of the Baltimore, Md., area.

The three reservists are the first Americans killed since the transfer of sovereignty Monday.

The reservists were reportedly traveling near Baghdad when their Humvee was hit.

The Philadelphia Inquirer identified two wounded reservists as Sgt. Matthew Crawford of Upper Darby, Pa., and Cpl. Matteusz Erszkowicz of New Jersey.

Their unit had been in Iraq for about five months, and for some, it reportedly was their second tour of duty.

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Marine killed in Iraq remembered as devoted father

NEWARK, N.J. — The ex-wife of a Marine reservist killed in Iraq remembered Sgt. Alan D. Sherman as a devoted father who was dedicated to his military mission.

“He wanted to come home to his boys. But he knew he was doing the right thing. He wanted to fight for his boys so they wouldn’t have to do it,” Dolores Sherman said Wednesday. “He totally believed in what he was doing.”

The couple had two children, Joshua, 10, and Logan, 7, who lived in Brick with her.

“He just liked spending time with his boys. They were his world,” she said. “Walking in the woods, playing basketball. Spending time with them. Things dads do with his boys.”

Sherman, 36, lived with his parents, Austin and Sarah Sherman, in the Wanamassa section of Ocean Township, where he grew up, Dolores Sherman, 37, said in a telephone interview from her former in-laws’ home.

When not on duty, he worked as a licensed practical nurse, she said.

The sergeant was on his second tour in the region. He was in Kuwait from March to October 2003, and went to Iraq in January, Dolores Sherman said.

He was among three U.S. servicemen killed by a roadside bomb Tuesday, military officials said.

Also reported killed in Tuesday’s blast were Cpl. John Todd III, 25, of Bridgeport, Pa., and Lance Cpl. Patrick Adle, 21, of Belair, Md.

The three reservists are the first Americans killed since the transfer of sovereignty Monday.

The reservists died Tuesday when the bomb exploded near the lead vehicle of their convoy. All were members of Bridge Company B of the 6th Engineer Support Battalion, based in Folsom, Pa.

Dolores Sherman said her ex-husband provided security for the unit, which was involved in engineering.

She said they last spoke two weeks ago, and she got an e-mail on Sunday.

“We had a really good friendship, and I made sure he could see his boys whenever he wanted to,” Dolores Sherman said.

They had married in 1993 and divorced six years ago, she said. Neither remarried.

She laughed when she recalled where they met: at a 7-Eleven in Point Pleasant, where she was working part-time in 1992.

Sherman is the latest New Jersey casualty in Iraq. Four National Guardsmen were killed in two incidents in June, the first guardsmen from New Jersey to die in the war. They were members of the 3rd Battalion, 112th Field Artillery, which drills at armories in Morristown, Lawrenceville, Toms River and Cherry Hill.

— Associated Press

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Funeral held for N.J. Marine killed in Iraq

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Family and friends gathered on the Fourth of July to say farewell to Sgt. Alan D. Sherman, a father of two described as “one tough Marine with a soft heart.”

Sherman, 36, was serving his second tour of duty in the Middle East when he was killed on June 29 in eastern Iraq by a roadside bomb. Two other Marines were killed in the attack and another two were wounded.

More than 200 people crowded into the Bloomfield-Cooper Jewish Chapels on Sunday, the Asbury Park Press of Neptune reported for Monday’s editions.

Michael Sherman described his brother as “bigger than life,” and said that he had provided something for his sons, Joshua, 10, and Logan, 7.

“He left them his honorable name, as a hero and as a loving father,” Michael Sherman said.

Rabbi Tobias Roth, a family friend, praised what he described as Sherman’s “sense of duty for his fellow man.”

Sherman was in Kuwait from March to October 2003, and went to Iraq in January, his family said.

“His loss has touched the entire world,” Roth said. “The fact that we all share in your troubles, hopefully that will provide some comfort to you.”

At Chesed Shel Emes Cemetery in Neptune, an honor guard presented the folded casket flag to Sherman’s mother, Sarah. Sherman’s sons also were presented with folded flags.

Among those paying their respects were Gov. James E. McGreevey and Rep. Frank J. Pallone Jr., D-Monmouth.

The Sherman family, McGreevey said, should “know that Alan’s sacrifice was not given in vain, that we are a grateful people.”

“Alan dedicated himself to a greater task, to the cause of liberty,” he said.

— Associated Press