LCpl. Dustin Lee Sides, U.S.M.C (KIA)

Yakima Marine Killed In Fallujah Ambush

Lance Cpl. Dustin Lee Sides, 22, of Yakima, was killed Sunday night in an ambush near Fallujah, his family told the Yakima Herald-Republic.

Sides, a 2001 graduate of Yakima Alternative School, was a wrecker driver assigned to the 9th Communications Battalion, also based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

His stepmother, Nancy Sides, told the newspaper that a team of Marine sergeants notified the family of the death at their Yakima Valley home about 1 a.m. Tuesday, Nancy Sides said.

Sides joined the Marines about a year ago, following in the footsteps of his older brother, Derek, and a cousin, both of whom also served in the Corps, his family said.

"That's what they are trained to do. He was proud to be there, proud to be a Marine - and we are proud of him," Nancy Sides said.

His father, John Sides, said he spoke with his son by satellite phone just two hours before his death.

Although he wasn't able to divulge details, Dustin Sides he had just completed a mission and was on his way back to base.

Friend Amie Wakefield said she last spoke to Sides two weeks ago when he telephoned from Iraq.

"He wanted to be there, and he wanted people to be proud of him," she said.

His mother, Wendy Billings of Naches, said Dustin had been planning to come home in September for a possible six-month stay. He intended to marry a girlfriend in California, relatives said