CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Marines with 1st Radio Battalion, I Marine Expeditionary Force, gathered to remember Lance Cpl. Anastasia A. Jackson, during a memorial ceremony at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Dec. 12.
Jackson, 26, died as a result of a diving accident near Mission Beach, Calif., Dec. 1.
Lance Cpl. Amanda Stewart, a special communications signals collection operator with 1st Rad. Bn., who worked closely with Jackson said a few words during her Memorial.
More than 200 of Jackson’s peers and friends attended the Philadelphia native’s memorial ceremony at Paige Field.
“She lives on in us,” said Stewart, 21, from Aurelia, Iowa. “She lives on in the memory of her life, not her death. I’ll keep that alive by remembering the way she lived her life and the example she set for us.”
Stewart spent much of her time involved with her work and duties as a Marine, which involved working with network operations and intelligence transmissions. When she was not at work, she was adventuring. Jackson loved trying new things and taking on new challenges, such as bow hunting and rappelling.
“She was locked on and ready to take on anything and everything,” said Sgt. Michael Skowronski, a special signals intelligence communicator with 1st Rad. Bn. “She’s inspired me to make sure whenever I go, I will have completed my dreams too or died trying.”
Jackson was known by her peers as someone who set the example and strived to do the right thing at all times.
Lance Cpl. Christian McDaniel, a special signals intelligence communicator with 1st Rad. Bn., and Jackson attended military occupation school together at Corry Station in Pensacola, Fla. They worked closely at Camp Pendleton ever since.
“She was one of the hardest working Marines I’ve ever known,” said McDaniel, 22, from Salem, Va. “She always held herself to a higher standard. She taught me that as easy as it might be, it’s better to do the right thing.”
Nearly every person in attendance lined up and waited to pay their respects to Jackson’s rifle memorial one at a time following the ceremony.
“She was an amazing human being who was loved by everyone,” McDaniel said. “Her laugh and smile could make anyone’s day better.”