Services Set For Oakland Park Marine Killed In Combat
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (CBSMiami.com) – Marine Sergeant Marlon Myrie was supposed to be finishing his third and final deployment to Afghanistan before returning to South Florida to attend college. Instead, a private jet returned the body of Sgt. Myrie to his Oakland Park Family Wednesday.
Myrie was killed in combat in Afghanistan. He was an anti-tank missleman assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division from Camp LeJeune, NC. He was killed while conducting a combat operation in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan.
"He was a very proud marine," said Myrie's mom Yvette Myrie. "I used to tease him about 'the proud, the few, the Marines.' It was really a Marine through and through."
Myrie joined the Marines in 2004 along with his best friend from Northeast High School in Pompano Beach. But it wasn't the Marine that brought him and his wife together; instead it was his love for life.
"He was a strong, caring person and that he was very loving, very giving," said his wife Maria. "He loved his family. He would do anything for his family."
Sgt. Myrie left behind a heartbroken mother, a grieving wife, and a little boy who still does not understand what happened to his father.
"He kept saying wake up daddy, wake up," explained Yvette. "He thought he was asleep."
Sgt. Myrie's body was escorted from the airport to the Forest Lawn North Funeral Home on Copans Road in Pompano Beach.
As fellow vets and family escort his body, his mother remembered him as the proud marine who lived and died in service to others.
"He was strong and handsome and silent; quiet, a gentle giant, when you first meet him," his mom said. "You couldn't help but love him. "
The viewing is set for Thursday at the Forest Lawn North Funeral Home in Pompano Beach. Burial is set for Friday the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth.
