MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII -- Marines, sailors, family and friends of 3rd Marine Regiment gathered at the Pacific War Memorial for a brick-laying ceremony to honor three fallen Marines, July 15, 2013.
The names of the three Marines who paid the ultimate sacrifice were forever etched in bricks, and given a place in the Walkway of Honor.
Lance Cpl. Gregory T. Buckley, 21, native of Oceanside, N.Y.; Cpl. Richard A. Rivera Jr., 20, native of Ventura, Calif.; Staff Sgt. Scott E. Dickinson, 29, native of San Diego, all were assigned to Headquarters Company, 3rd Marines, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force.
While deployed, they were attached to 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C. They were killed Aug. 10, 2012 in Garmsir District, Afghanistan.
“I deployed with all three of them,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Farid Pezeshkian, 23, a corpsman with 3rd Marine Regiment, and a native of Houston. “These men were some of the best Marines I have ever known.”
Pezeshkian added not a day goes by that his thoughts don’t include them.
Col. Timothy Winand, 3rd Marines commanding officer and Col. Nathan Nastase, the regiment’s commanding officer during the 2012 deployment, spoke at the ceremony. Nastase said he likes to come to the monument when it’s quiet and no one is around. He said he wants to make sure that when the sun sets over the mountains, the bricks are among the last things to retain the sun’s warmth before the sky turned dark.
Sgt. Maj. Justin LeHew, regimental sergeant major, 3rd Marines, talked about the history of the monument, the Marine Corps and the battles in which Marines fought. He said this monument and the names printed on the bricks represent what it means to be a Marine. He said that it’s very appropriate that the Marines’ names are remembered at a memorial that means so much to the Corps.
Dickinson’s wife, Alicia, was present to unveil the three names during the ceremony. She knelt down with both Nastase and Winand to remove the tape from the bricks. After the bricks were uncovered, Marines and sailors knelt down and bowed their heads to pay respects to their fallen brothers. Attendees also brought flowers to rest next to the bricks.
“Everyone here today will never forget these three Marines,” said Cpl. Jeremiah Moore, 21, an infantryman with Combat Assault Company, 3rd Marines. “Now that their names are here at the Pacific War Memorial, their memories will live on forever.”