Friends and neighbors try to comfort the family of Lance Cpl. Jonathan Spears, the Pensacola area's first service member killed in the war.
By Associated Press
Published November 2, 2005
MOLINO - A stiff autumn breeze whipped the Marine Corps and American flags flying at half-staff outside the rural home of Lance Cpl. Jonathan Ross Spears' parents.
Spears' death in Iraq has saddened this Florida Panhandle community, where the 21-year-old Marine known as "J.R." grew up playing football and going to NASCAR races.
Killed by small arms fire while on patrol Oct. 23 in Ramadi, Spears was the first service member from the Pensacola area to die in the Iraq war. A memorial service is set for today. On Tuesday, there was public viewing at a funeral home in Cantonment.
Spears' father steers away from talk about the politics of the war and the number of U.S. military personnel killed, which the Associated Press reported last week passed 2,000. His 6-foot-1 son loved sports and helping others, and that's the focus for Timothy Spears, 46.
"I've never been a very political person," Spears said. "I only know my son died doing his job protecting his country. That's the way I want him remembered."
In an interview on his backyard patio, Spears, a paper plant employee, said his son, polite and soft-spoken, couldn't keep much of his paycheck when he worked at a sandwich shop in high school, because he spent it on sandwiches for homeless people who came by.
In Iraq, he said, his son encouraged people to vote and gave children the candy his mother, Marie, had sent him. "He felt so sorry for the kids," Spears said.
Marie Spears was too devastated to be interviewed.
The Marine left for his second tour in Iraq on Sept. 4 with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Regiment of the 1st Marine Division, based at Twentynine Palms, Calif.
As word spread about his death last week, neighbors and friends of the Spears family arrived with food and condolences. At his alma mater, Tate High School, a moment of silence was observed in his honor Thursday, and a scholarship fund has been created in his memory.
The Spears' daughters, 11-year-old Jessica and 9-year-old Jennifer, have lost their only big brother. The family grouped photos of J.R. in a collage and had it framed.
The son often sent e-mails reassuring his family he was okay, said his uncle, Edward Spears.
"He always wrote, "I'm fine,' " the uncle said. "He loved being a Marine. He saw it as a stepping-stone to college. ... He talked about working for the FBI or the Secret Service."
Before following his heart into the Marines in 2003, Spears had to drop some of the 265 pounds he had built up to play offensive lineman on Tate's football team. He got down to 180 pounds, Tate football coach Charlie Armstrong said.
He graduated in 2002, enrolled in junior college, then joined the Marines with several buddies.
One of those buddies, Lance Cpl. Chris Smith, helped escort the body home from Dover, Md. Football teammates of the fallen Marine planned to be honorary pallbearers at his funeral.
Down the highway from the Spears home, the Rev. Don Neese, pastor of Grace Valley Baptist, said, "It's sad. It's a shock. The whole country has been in touch with the war. I have a son about to go over there."
At Hammer's bait and tackle store, Audrey Holder said, "It's really sad our boys have to go over there and get killed."
"I can't do nothing about it - one way or another - just say a prayer for them."
