Marine Cpl. Joshua J. Ware
Death: Nov 16, 2005
of Apache Okla.; assigned to Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion 1st Marine Regiment 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit I Marine Expeditionary Force Camp Pendleton Calif.; attached to 2nd Marine Division II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward); killed Nov. 16 by enemy small arms fire while conducting combat operations against enemy forces during Operation Steel Curtain in Ubaydi Iraq. Hundreds attend funeral of fallen Marine corporal The Associated Press APACHE Okla. — More than 350 family members and friends bid farewell to a Marine corporal who was the sunshine of his mother’s life and a source of pride for his father. “On the darkest day he made the sun come out and shine upon her” the Rev. Kim Mammedaty said of Cpl. Joshua J. Ware to those gathered at Comanche Community Center on Nov. 26. Ware and three other Marines including another Oklahoman were killed in a Nov. 16 ambush in Ubaydi Iraq. He was born at the U.S. Public Health Service Indian Hospital in Lawton and attended school at Apache as a child. He graduated from Roland High School in eastern Oklahoma where he played football and baseball ran track and was in the FFA. A year before Ware20 graduated from high school he signed up to be a Marine. Retired Army Command Sgt. Maj. Lanny Asepermy a friend of the family recalled that Ware’s father Randy Mammedaty would keep him informed about Ware’s career and travels when Asepermy visited the Apache Farmers Co-op. “It would take us 30 minutes to load up two bags of feed” Asepermy said. Ware’s pastor the Rev. Sharon Gomez remembered when Ware asked her to pray for him. But more often he would ask for prayer for the sick mother of another Marine or another Marine’s sister who had just had a baby. “He was always thinking about the others in his unit” Gomez said. “He would never let people worry about him.” Ware an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe who was of Kiowa and Comanche descent was the first Comanche or Kiowa to die in combat since 1968 during the Vietnam War. He was laid to rest at Rainy Mountain Cemetery near Mountain View. A Marine Corps Reserve detachment from Oklahoma City provided military honors. “Josh will always be 20 years old” said Asepermy. “To him I say ‘Semper Fidelis and most importantly ‘Mission Accomplished.’ “He will go down in Kiowa and Comanche history as a fallen warrior. I hope we don’t forget who he was and what he did.” Operation Iraqi Freedom