`Every single one of them is a hero'

 

Published Aug. 3, 2005
By Carl Chancellor and Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer

Northeast Ohio once again is grieving the loss of Marines in Iraq.

Six Marine reservists based in Brook Park were killed while on sniper duty in Iraq. The deaths pushed the U.S. military death toll in the war to 1,806.

The six Marines, members of a Marine scout sniper team, died in an exchange of small-arms gunfire, said Lt. Col. Kevin Rush, site commander of the Headquarters & Service Company, part of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division.

The six deaths were the first from the Brook Park group, Rush said.

``Every single one of them is a hero,'' Rush said.

The family of one of those heroes -- Lance Cpl. Jeff Boskovitch, 25 -- congregated in the driveway of his father's Cuyahoga Falls home late Tuesday evening.

``He had the biggest heart in the world. He was just a great kid,'' said his uncle, Dan Boskovitch. He said his nephew, who joined the Marine Reserves in 2000, had aspirations of pursuing a career in law enforcement.

``That's what he wanted to do. He had completed the law-enforcement program at Tri-C (Cuyahoga Community College) and had worked with the Geauga County sheriff,'' Dan Boskovitch said.

Another uncle, Joe Andrich, remembered Jeff Boskovitch as an indomitable spirit who wanted to make a difference in the world.

``He believed in his mission of bringing freedom to the Iraqi people. . . . We're going to miss his presence. There is a big hole in our family,'' said Andrich.

He said Boskovitch was the ``oldest of 42 cousins'' who ``all looked up to him.''

Boskovitch, who grew up in North Royalton, graduated from Normandy High School in 1999, where he played defensive end and tight end on the school's football team.

His aunt, Theresa Andrich, said the family kept in touch with him via e-mail and ``lots'' of cards and letters. She said her nephew especially looked forward to the letters from his fiancee, Shelly Tevis of Brunswick, who is a recent Kent State University graduate.

``She spoke to him on Saturday and they set their wedding date for Oct. 14 of next year. She wanted that fairy-tale wedding,'' said a tearful Andrich.

Boskovitch and the five other Marines, who included Sgt. Nathaniel Rock of Toronto and Lance Cpl. Brian Montgomery of Willoughby, were killed in the northwestern Iraqi town of Haditha. All were from Northeast Ohio.

Rock, 26, spent six years in the Marines after graduating from high school in 1997 and then joined the Reserves, said his mother, Adriana Rock. At home, he worked as a part-time police officer in Martins Ferry.

``He was very proud to be a Marine,'' she said.

Montgomery, 26, joined the Marines Reserve in June 2002, said his father, Paul Montgomery.

``I've never seen a man who was more patriotic than him,'' his father said.

Montgomery's 21-year-old brother, Eric, is serving in the same company and will be coming home for the funeral, Paul Montgomery said.

The Akron Weapons Company, a group of Marine reservists, is serving alongside the Brook Park Marines and with Marine reservists in Columbus, West Virginia and New York. The group of about 1,000 Marines was deployed in January 2005 as the last Marine Reserve infantry unit in the country to be called up since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Families of those killed were notified Monday evening, Rush said.

``Two Marines came to our door last night at 5:30 and told us his duty status whereabouts was unknown,'' said Vicki Boskovitch, Jeff Boskovitch's stepmother.

``At 8:30, they showed up again and said Jeff's body was found four miles from the battle site. . . . They found his bloody shirt at the battle site, so they don't know how he got there (four miles away).''

``They were a close-knit group,'' Dan Boskovitch said of the sniper unit. He said his nephew had been offered a promotion, but he declined because he wanted to stay with his unit.

``He always spoke about their loyalty and how they fought for each other. I know they fought for each other to the very end,'' he said.

Since the Marines left for a seven-month tour of duty in January, Lima Company, out of Columbus, has suffered 11 deaths, and the Akron Weapons Company has lost eight members.

The Brook Park Marines were in Regimental Combat Team 2, which was attached to the 2nd Marine Division and the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.

A seventh Marine, from Oklahoma, who was attached to the Brook Park unit, was killed Monday in a separate incident when a vehicle was struck by an explosive device.

Stacy Unkefer, 32, of Fredericksburg in southern Wayne County, said her husband, Staff Sgt. Shane Unkefer, 35, a member of the Brook Park unit, called her Tuesday morning to tell her he was all right.

Unkefer told his wife that the snipers who were killed had lived near him at Haditha Dam for several months and he knew all of them.

``He is pretty upset,'' she said. He told her ``they were good guys.''

Last month, Unkefer, who works for ProQuest Business Solutions in Richfield, shared pizzas with all six snipers who died, as well as dozens of other Marines serving with the group in Iraq.

The 20 pizzas were sent to the Marine unit by Mark Lemon, owner of Lem's Pizza in Fredericksburg, after Unkefer told his wife that the Marines had grown tired of the food they were eating and wanted something different.

Lemon expressed shock at the deaths.

``It hits home,'' he said. ``You hear figures on the news regularly. Even though I didn't know those guys, I saw them eating my pizza. . . . It's hard to believe.''