Ohio Marine's dying wish to be kept
He `made me promise to have him buried in Arlington,' mother says
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/13035139.htm
From staff and wire reports
An Ohio Marine and former Medina resident in his third tour of duty in Iraq made his mother promise to bury him in Arlington National Cemetery if he was killed.
Lance Cpl. Robert F. Eckfield Jr. of Cleveland died Thursday from injuries sustained in an explosion, the military said late Friday.
He was the son of Virginia Taylor of Cleveland and her former husband, Robert Eckfield of Medina.
Before he left for Iraq on Sept. 18, the younger Eckfield asked his mother to bury him at Arlington.
``He was scared about going back,'' said Virginia Taylor. ``He said he knew he would not return. That's when he made me promise to have him buried in Arlington if the worst happened.''
Eckfield, 23, and Lance Cpl. Jared J. Kremm, 24, of Hauppauge, N.Y., died from an ``indirect fire explosion'' in Saqlawiyah, Iraq, the military said.
Direct fire would be something like a gunshot aimed at an individual, a Marine spokesman said. A mortar attack on a building would be an example of indirect fire.
``They said he was killed when something, a shell or something, went through the building he was in,'' Taylor said.
Kremm died at the scene while Eckfield died at a nearby medical center, according to the Defense Department.
Both were assigned to 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Eckfield had lived in Medina until he was about 5 years old, said his stepfather, Norman Taylor, on Saturday.
According to the military, he attended John Marshall High School and graduated from Cleveland Christian Academy. He had also worked at a local Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.
``Right from the start, he wanted to do his duty,'' his mother said. ``He went right into boot camp after graduation. I understood it. My father was a Marine, but he died in 2000. They talked about the military service.''
His mother, in a statement added: ``He is remembered and loved by so many. I'm sure there will be many people going to Arlington on his behalf. I wasn't happy with him going to Iraq, but I supported him because I knew how important the military was to him.''
Eckfield would have finished this tour of active duty next spring.
A military spokesman said he had looked forward to returning to Northeast Ohio to attend his sister's high school graduation next year. He also planned to attend college and work for the Central Intelligence Agency or the State Department.
This was Eckfield's third deployment to southwest Asia: his earlier overseas tours of duty were in Kuwait and Baghdad.
Eckfield is survived by his mother, father, stepfather and siblings Nathan, Rachel and Norman.