After a diesel truck drove into a building and exploded, a badly injured Marine crawled from the rubble. Rimes and others encircled medics as they treated Lance Cpl. Daryl F. Brown Jr. Insurgents fired, killing Rimes.

"Corporeal Rimes is our hero," Brown's sister, Danica Love of Baytown, Tex., wrote in a letter to the Santa Maria Times. "My whole family feels a deep gratitude to him."

Rimes, an anti-tank gunner, was killed April 1 in Ramadi, Iraq. He was assigned to the 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. While in Iraq, he served in the 2nd Marine Division and was killed less than a month in the country.

On Tuesday, friends and relatives remembered Rimes' generosity, sense of humor and his honor to serve as a Marine.

"Ever since he was a kid, he wanted to be a Marine," his younger sister, Patty Rimes of Santa Maria, said. "He wanted to be in the military."

A native of the Philippines, Rimes immigrated to the United States in 1996. He joined the Marines in 1997, hoping the military would help in his goal to become a U.S. citizen.

The 30-year-old has been awarded the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

Rimes took a break from the military in 2001 but couldn't stay away for long. He reenlisted in 2004, working in the Marines recruiting office in Santa Maria.

"I know he was a hard worker, he was dependable. He was always on time," said Marine Sgt. James Gordon, who leads the Santa Maria recruiters. "He missed the Marine Corps."

In addition to a sister, Rimes is survived by his wife, who lives in the Philippines, and his mother, who lives in Milwaukee, Wis.