sixone

Wow....is this war really worth fighting. Fuck Bush.




Marine killed; dad ?loses it': Blue Hills Voke graduate dies in Najaf during second tour; father sets himself afire after learning of combat death


Carlos Arredondo, 44, was severely burned yesterday when he set fire to a Marine Corps van after he was told his Marine son, Lance Cpl. Alexander Arredondo, had been killed in Iraq. (Associated Press)


A 20-year-old Marine from Randolph was killed in Iraq and his distraught father is fighting for his own life after being severely burned when he set fire to the van of the Marines who delivered the news.

Lance Cpl. Alexander Arredondo, a 2002 graduate of Blue Hills Regional Technical School in Canton, died in combat Tuesday in Najaf.

Police said the slain Marine's father, Carlos Arredondo, snapped after learning of his death yesterday at his home in Hollywood, Fla.

Police Capt. Tony Rode said Arredondo walked into the garage and picked up a propane tank, gas can and blowtorch. He smashed the van's window, got inside and set it ablaze, despite attempts by the Marines to stop him.

The Marines pulled Arredondo, 44, from the burning vehicle and extinguished the flames on him.

??The father was in disbelief, same as any of us would be after hearing this kind of news,'' Rode said. ??But then the father basically loses it. You can only imagine what this father was going through.''

Arredondo had burns over 50 percent of his body. He was listed in serious condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami with severe burns to his arms and legs.

Carlos Arredondo, a self-employed handyman, moved to Florida last spring. Yesterday was his 44th birthday.

Alexander Arredondo's mother, Victoria Foley of Bangor, Maine, told The Patriot Ledger today her son grew up in Norwood and that the family moved to Randolph in 1999.

Alexander, who turned 20 on Aug. 5, lived with her in Randolph until he went into the service in 2002.

??He knew at age 16 that he wanted to go into the Marines. He wanted a challenge in his life,'' said Foley, who was divorced from Carlos Arredondo in the late 1980s.

She said that this was her son's second tour of duty in Iraq. His first tour of nine months ended in September, and he had just returned to Iraq in June.

Foley said that she spoke to him at about noon on the day he died.

??He said that it was going to get bad, and he was really happy where he was, Najaf. He was upbeat,'' she said.

??He told me to watch him on the news. That there were a lot of TV stations, and to look for him - and that he would be home sooner than I think, she said.

Alexander had two brothers, 17-year-old Brian Arredondo and Nathaniel Foley, who will turn 4 next week. Both live with Foley.

Melida Arredondo, Carlos Arredondo's wife and Alexander's stepmother, said that she was at work when she received a call from Carlos at about 2 p.m. yesterday.

??He said ?they killed Alex!,' and he was screaming and crying, and I freaked out and hung up and went home,'' she said this morning.

She said that her husband was in stable condition this morning at the Rider Trauma Center at the hospital in Miami.

??He is in a lot of pain, and emotionally he seems better,'' she said.

??He is grieving. He basically wanted to kill himself because of the grief,'' she said.

Arredondo said that she and Carlos were married in 1997 and that they moved to Hollywood, Fla., from Roslindale in May.

Carlos and Alexander remained close even after Carlos and his wife divorced, she said.

??We heard from him two weeks ago. He said that he was enjoying himself and that he was glad to be back helping these people, and that he was learning a lot of Arabic,'' she said.

Alexander Arredondo was a member of the 1st Marine Division from Camp Pendleton, Calif. In his senior year at Blue Hills, Arredondo won the First Lieutenant Michael P. Quinn Memorial Award.

??He was a great guy and reliable. He was always there,'' said John J. Balis. 20, of Dedham, Alexander's friend and high school classmate at Blue Hills.

Balis, an Army E-4 specialist stationed at Ft. Riley, Ka., said a friend called him with the news last night.

??At first I was in shock,'' said Balis. ??This really hit close to home.''

Melida Arredondo said that last night, in the burn center, ??Carlos was saying that he was not just some nut. That he was screaming for his son. That Alex did not deserve to die. That this war has to end.''

??I agree with that,'' she said. ??I wish we would work half as hard for peace as we do for war.''

She said that a wake would be held for her stepson in about two weeks in Jamaica Plain, and that the burial would be held in Norwood.

Dirty F

Ofcourse already posted.

exposed

thats trajic

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"I felt victimized by the Ian Eisenbergs of the world" - Mary Burger

zzgundamnzz

Second Tour...

He should of left after his first tour. But guys like that if they don't get killed are usually lifers. They stay in the marines til they get kicked out.

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sixone

Sorry didn't see it . Does it give this thread any new life if you all knew that i know kid? He graduated with my little sister from High School. Randolph is my hometown.