A 19-year-old Marine from Westminster was killed in Iraq when his light-armored supply truck was blasted by a roadside bomb near the Syrian border.
Pfc. Jeremy Tamburellow was a 2004 graduate of Ranum High School and had enlisted in the Marines at the urging of recruiters prior to graduation, his grandmother Pat Greer said.
“Right now it almost doesn’t seem real,” said a distraught Greer, 68, also of Westminster.
The Department of Defense had not confirmed the Marine’s death. Tamburellow’s family said they were notified early Tuesday.
Family members said they did not support the war, mainly because they were concerned for Tamburellow’s safety.
“It was scary, we really dreaded him going over there,” Greer said. “He didn’t seem scared, though.”
Greer gently unfolded a letter written to her by Tamburellow when he was on the verge of graduating from boot camp.
“I fired for a score of expert on the range, the highest score you can achieve,” Tamburellow wrote.
Careful not to smudge the words written in pencil, Greer said she now regrets not having saved all of her grandson’s letters.
Tamburellow suffered burns over half of his body when a roadside bomb exploded next to his supply truck. His family was alerted Monday evening that he was in critical condition.
Tuesday morning, two Marines arrived at the family home with the news that Tamburellow had not survived, Greer said.
He was a quiet young man, kind of a loner who had a small but tightknit group of friends, his grandmother said. He spent hours on some days playing video games on a computer, she said, or spending time with family.
Tamburellow talked with his family about being a career Marine.
“He was a good kid,” Greer said.
“He didn’t really talk much about what he was doing over there. He mainly just asked us to write a lot of letters to him, about how his family was doing.
“He really missed home.”
Tamburellow’s father was too distraught to comment. His family said funeral services are pending.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-820-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
