In Memoriam

Marianne Refuerzo
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 8, 2006 12:00 AM

WEST PHOENIX - Friends and family wore red ribbons with the words "Josh" and "USMC" on Tuesday to honor a Tolleson Union High School graduate killed in Iraq.

Marine Lance Cpl. John Joshua Thornton died Feb. 25 at age 22.

Members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a motorcycle group that pays tribute to fallen soldiers, held American flags outside St. Augustine church in Phoenix. Marines from a Phoenix battalion carried the white casket draped with the American flag into the church.

Retired 1st Sgt. Gil Contreras gave the eulogy. Like Thornton, he was assigned to the 7th Marine Regiment in Iraq, but he never met him.

"I know he would want you to grieve for him, if you must, but he would say, 'Let me go now. . . . I have given all I can give, and now it is someone else's time to carry the load until they are called,' " Contreras said.

Lance Cpls. Jacob Hayes, 21, of Texas and Nathan Raines, 23, of California stood alongside Contreras as he spoke. Both served with Thornton in Iraq and returned to the United States because of injuries.

"It's a shame something like this has to happen to the good ones," Hayes said. "He was definitely a good Marine and a better person."

Joe Montoya, Thornton's grandfather, could not make the service but sent a letter for Contreras to read.

"I never met someone I could call my hero," Montoya wrote. "Now I have a hero: John Joshua Thornton, my U.S. Marine."

Thornton dreamed of being a Marine since childhood. His bedroom was filled with Marine memorabilia, such as camouflaged stuffed animals.

Thornton was in the ROTC program at Tolleson Union High School and graduated in the top of his class in 2002. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2004.

Mary Cortez, a Tolleson Union High bus driver, took members of the ROTC program to pay their respects. She said Thornton was "very respectful, very outgoing."

Her son, Jesse, 24, was friends with Thornton.

Thornton was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force based in Twentynine Palms, Calif. He is the 63rd member of the military with Arizona ties to die in the war in Iraq.

He is survived by his mother, Rachel, brother Kyle, 16, and sister Brianna, 14, all of west Phoenix. His father, Robert, is deceased.