Funeral for Camp Pendleton-based Marine killed in Iraq

HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. - A Marine corporal killed in an ambush in Iraq last week was remembered Tuesday for both his service to his country and his heroism in daily life.

Cpl. Tommy L. Parker Jr. of Heber Springs was one of four Marines killed June 21 in Ramadi, Iraq. He was serving with a sniper platoon of the First Marine Division out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Parker, 21, was a 2001 graduate of Triple S Christian Academy, where he dated the woman who would become his wife, Carla Parker.

Survivors include his wife, their 2-year-old daughter, Lara, and his parents, Tommy and Renatta Parker.

The Rev. John Bishop remembered teaching Parker and coaching him in basketball.

"He could jump so high he looked like a deer doing it," Bishop said.

The priest also praised Parker's devotion to his faith, saying that even when surrounded by tough Marines he was not too shy to give witness to his beliefs. As Parker prepared to leave for Iraq, Bishop said Parker's wife told him, he remarked that the experience was bringing him closer to God.

"I don't believe T.J. was a hero because he died. He was hero because he went," Bishop said.

Parker's parents signed a waiver allowing him to join the Marine Reserves while still in high school, and he went on active duty after graduation. He served in Japan and Indonesia and began duty in Iraq in February.

His father said Parker's years of experience as a hunter likely led to his becoming a sniper. He recalled how the two began hunting deer and rabbit together when the boy was only 3.

Tuesday's funeral included a photo tribute to Parker, tracing his life from childhood, through his marriage and on to his time as a father and Marine.

Several hundred people attended the service, which was often emotional. Toward the end, a second photo-tribute was devoted to Parker's daughter.

He and his three fellow Marines were killed by insurgents and videotaped lying dead in what appeared to be a walled compound in Ramadi.

The videotape was delivered to Associated Press Television News last week, showing Parker and the others in the heart of the insurgent Sunni stronghold, without mandatory flak jackets and with their belongings looted or strewn about.

The bodies were found when the soldiers failed to report on schedule and a U.S. quick reaction force went looking for them.