The Department of Defense announced recently that another Marine from Camp Lejeune has died in Afghanistan while supporting combat operations in Helmand province.
This is the fourth death from the same regiment announced this week.
Lance Cpl. Bruce E. Ferrell, Jr., 21, of Perdido, Alabama was a machine gunner assigned to 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
His mission is ended and he has earned his rest.
Please take a few minutes to join us in to remembering the life and honoring the service of this Marine who gave his all in the service of our country.
sources: airman mom & multiple postings, Mobile Press-Register, WKRG.com, Fox10TV.com
Lance Cpl Bruce E. Ferrell, Jr., also known as "Little Bruce" or "Bubba", graduated from Baldwin County High School in 2006, where he was a member of the JROTC program and an honor student.
He also played on the soccer team.
Bruce joined the Marines shortly after graduating from high school and was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal on January 1, 2008.
He began his first deployment, a seven month stint in Afghanistan, in May 2009.
Lance Cpl. Bruce "Bubba" Ferrell Jr., 21, a Marine from north Baldwin County, was killed when a roadside bomb exploded during a routine foot patrol near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, family members said.
"He was the only one. He and the others got out of the Humvee and went out on foot," said his father, Bruce Ferrell Sr. "Bubba stepped on an IED and he was gone."
Bubba Ferrell had been part of Fox Company, a rifle unit of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment of the Marine Corps, family members said.
At first, the family was told that the lance corporal was missing in action. A few hours later, a group of Marines — including the gunnery sergeant of the young Marine's unit — visited the Ferrell home to deliver the news, Bruce Ferrell Sr. said.
Pam Ferrell, his mother, said her son was "kind-hearted. He would do anything for anyone, and I'm not just saying that because he's my son. Just ask anyone.
"He was a free spirit and was true to the Marines," she said with a smile. "He said he was going over to fight for his friends and his country. He was going over there to watch over them. He went over there and ended up sacrificing it all."
The Ferrell family was already coping with deep sorrow when they received the news of Little Bruce's death. His parents are still grieving the loss of their oldest child, Danielle Denise Whatley, who was recently killed in a car accident. Like her brother, she was only 21 years old when she died.
"We're trying to make sense of losing one already. Then losing two — it's almost too much," Bruce Ferrell Sr. said.
The pain his mother feels of losing her son so soon after the loss of her daughter is "unimaginable":
"Please pray for us, pray for me, pray for my family."
"This makes my two oldest kids that I've lost in the last couple of years," explained Pam Ferrell. "I'm just going to need a lot of prayers from everybody."
The family is comforted by memories and friends:
Bruce Ferrell Sr., reflected on his son's outgoing spirit, saying that family and all of his friends would help them get through the hard times ahead.
"We've got plenty of family and friends, a lot of his friends, is the big thing. I don't know how many friends he's actually got because they're all the way from here to North Carolina," Bruce Sr. said.
Ferrell, Sr. also said that he was more proud than he'd ever been when his son graduated high school. He and his wife didn't know that his son had joined the Marines until after he'd already signed up and a friend of his let it slip. They've supported his decision, saying that he wore the uniform with pride.
"He loved serving his country. He loved being in the Marine Corps. This is what he wanted to do. He told me he's doing this for his family and his country," reflected his mother.
"I told Bubba that he'd probably done more in his short lifetime than I'd ever do in my whole lifetime," Bruce Sr. said. "That's some kind of comfort."
Bruce had not been in contact with his family since the beginning of his deployment. Then the day before he was killed, he called home:
"On Saturday, he called," Bruce Ferrell Sr. said. "We got to talk to him for 10 or 15 minutes, and we feel very lucky about that, because it happened the next evening."
"He seemed happy," Pamela said as she tried to fight back tears. "He told me to calm down because I was crying so much, that he was alright, everything was good. But he said that it's very scary over there. He said that there's things that he'd seen that he'd never forget."
Somehow they will manage to deal with grief on top of grief:
Bruce Sr. tried to lighten the mood by offering the one thing about Bruce Jr. that he would always remember: "His smile... his big ole' smile," he said.
"He was goofy," his mother said. "I'm going to miss his smile and him telling me he loves me."
Lance Cpl. Ferrell's awards include the National Defense Service Medal and the and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. He is survived by his parents and two younger siblings. Several sources also report Bruce was recently engaged to be married.
The Family has invited the Patriot Guard Riders to stand in honor of their son.
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