CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) — Some of the Marines killed in a desert training accident this week were just a year or so out of high school.
Pfc. Josh Martino of Dubois, Pa., was just 19. His mother said he joined the Marines in July and was hoping to marry his fiancee later this year before being deployed to Afghanistan.
Lance Cpl. Josh Taylor was 21. His grandfather says the Marietta, Ohio, native had talked about being a Marine since he was about 5. Taylor was also planning for a wedding, scheduled for May.
Both young men were among seven members of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force killed late Monday when a mortar exploded in its firing tube during an exercise at Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada. Eight men were injured, some severely.
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