1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment honors fallen warrior

Photo By William Skelton | Lance Cpl. Jason Valdez pays his last respects to Lance Cpl. James W. Higgins Jr. following a memorial service for him Aug. 4 at Camp Fallujah, Iraq. Higgins was a machine gunner in Mobile Assault Platoon 2, Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. He was killed in action July 27. Lt. Col. David J. Furness and other Marines shared memories of Higgins and spoke of the type of Marine he was during the ceremony.  

FALLUJAH, IRAQ

08.07.2006

Courtesy Story

I Marine Expeditionary Force

By Cpl. William Skelton
Regimental Combat Team 5

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Marines from Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment paused operations to honor a fallen Marine.

Lance Cpl. James W. Higgins was killed in action July 27 and memorialized by his fellow Marines at Camp Fallujah's Chapel of Hope Aug. 4.

Lt. Col. David J. Furness said Higgins was the type of Marine whose dedication shone in every part of his career.

"His peers referred to him as 'Sergeant Major Higgy' in tribute to the sterling example he always set as a Marine." said the 43-year-old battalion commander from Oceanside, Calif. "His bearing and dedication reflected in everything he did."

Higgins was 22-years-old and from Thurmont, Md. He was assigned to Weapons Company's Mobile Assault Platoon 2.

"Higgins was a man who selflessly gave his life leading his Marines and protecting his brothers in Mobile Assault Platoon 2," Furness said. "Initially he was a quiet and reserved young man, but under the crucible of combat he blossomed into one of the best Marines in Weapons Company."

Higgins, a former football player and all-around athlete in high school, was an ambitious and outspoken Marine who answered his nation's call to serve.

"James Higgins was a brave, intelligent and brilliant young man who would have been successful on any path in life he chose," said Capt. Alton A. Warthen, the 32-year-old company commanding officer from Newport News, Va. "He could have gone to college, pursued a civilian career and lived a life of relative comfort and wealth.

"He chose instead to come here and fight for the freedom of others," Warthen explained.

Warthen said that Higgins and the 141 other Marines in Weapons Company represented the most noble aspects of the ancient code of war and of humanity itself.

"It is a tragic irony that young men like Lance Cpl. Higgins must sacrifice and in some cases die, fighting to protect what most take for granted," Warthen said. "But as we have all come to understand these past seven months, without us there would be nothing to take for granted."

• Date Taken: 08.07.2006
• Date Posted: 08.07.2006 10:13
• Story ID: 7409
• Location: FALLUJAH, IQ