OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A
U.S. Marine from Moore who
was killed Sunday in Iraq was
highly regarded and admired by
all who knew him, according to
his wife.
Staff Sgt. Melvin L. Blazer Jr.,
38, died after coming under enemy fire in Fallujah in Al Anbar
Province, Iraq, family members
and the U.S. Department of Defense said.
"To know my husband was to
love my husband," Dana Blazer
told The Oklahoman by tele
phone from her home near
Camp Pendleton, Calif.
"Everybody loved him and admired him and respected him
and held him in such high regard. He was a hero in his everyday life."
Blazer graduated from Moore
High School in 1984, and decided he would make the military
his career a few years later. He
married his wife in 1989.
"We were such wonderful
friends for many, many years,"
Dana Blazer said. "That friend
ship blossomed into a wonderful
love. The stuff fairy tales are
made of."
Blazer's father, Melvin Blazer
Sr., said he was awakened early
Monday by a doorbell ring.
"They told me that he was
killed in Fallujah with small-arms fire and that he was not
alone when it happened," Melvin Blazer Sr. said as he fought
back tears.
"I loved him dearly," the elder Blazer, a Vietnam veteran,
said. "I was very proud of him."
No more details were provided by the military about circumstances of the death.
Blazer was one of seven Marines to receive a Purple Heart
for injuries sustained in November, when an explosive hit their
convoy.
He was
assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st
Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps
Base Camp Pendleton, Calif.
