In Memoriam

Marine who grew up in Minnesota among 5 killed in Iraq

November 20, 2005

JACKSON, MISS. - A Marine from Mississippi who went to school for several years in Minnesota was one of five Marines killed last week battling insurgents in Ubaydi, Iraq, the Defense Department said.

Lance Cpl. Roger W. Deeds, 24, whose home address was listed as Biloxi, Miss., was killed along with fellow soldiers Cpl. Jeffry A. Rogers, 21, of Oklahoma City, Okla.; Cpl. Joshua J. Ware, 20, of Apache, Okla.; 2nd Lt. Donald R. McGlothlin, 26, of Lebanon, Va., and Lance Cpl. John A. Lucente, 19, of Grass Valley, Calif.

Lucente died from wounds sustained from an enemy grenade, and the others were killed by small arms fire from insurgents, the military said.

Much of Deeds' extended family still lives in Truman, Minn., a town of 1,200 about 100 miles southwest of the Twin Cities.

According to the Free Press of Mankato, Deeds moved there with his mother and siblings from Germany in the early 1990s.

Joyce Deeds, Roger's mother, said that when her son lived in Minnesota he was active in the Truman Church of Christ and enjoyed playing football, basketball and hockey.

"He was very caring person," Joyce Deeds said. "The support of the Truman community and the support of prayers are sustaining us."

Deeds attended school in Truman from third grade through eighth grade. At age 14, he went to live with his father in New Mexico. He graduated from Biloxi High School.

"He wanted to make a difference, and he didn't feel like he'd do that sitting at a desk somewhere," Deeds' wife, Sarah, told the Clarion-Ledger newspaper.

Sarah Deeds said her husband came home in October 2004 to see his son for the first time. Their son, Alaric, was born in July 2004, a month after Roger Deeds first left for Iraq. A second son, Mikaleigh, was born in September.

The Marines were attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.