Operation Iraqi Freedom, Fallen Heroes, Iraq War 03/19/03

Mark R Goyet

Sinton, Texas

June 28, 2011

Age Military Rank Unit/Location
22 Marine L/Cpl

3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force

Twentynine Palms, California

 Killed while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

From The San Diego Union-Tribune sandiegouniontribune.com 06/29/11

Twentynine Palms Marine killed in Afghanistan: Lance Cpl. Mark R. Goyet
Mortarman served with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment


Mugshot of Gretel C. KovachBy Gretel C. Kovach | 5:22 p.m. June 29, 2011 | Updated, 5:38 p.m.

A Twentynine Palms mortarman was one of two southern California Marines killed recently in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced today.

Lance Cpl. Mark R. Goyet, 22, of Sinton, Texas, died Tuesday in combat in Helmand province. The mortarman served with the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment headquartered at the Marine Corps Ground Combat Training Center.

Goyet was on his second combat deployment since he enlisted on Feb. 25, 2008, according to the 1st Marine Division based at Camp Pendleton.

His personal service awards include the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, and Afghanistan Campaign Medal.

Also killed in Helmand Province Tuesday was Lance Cpl. John F. Farias, 20, of New Braunfels, Texas. The infantryman was assigned to Camp Pendleton's 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, which took command in April of the violent Sangin district coveted by opium traders and Taliban fighters.

Two weeks before he died, Farias sent a video to his parents saying "I'm kind of forced to grow up here," KENS5 of San Antonio reported. Farias and his fellow Marines were involved in fire fights for four to six hours a day, Penny Farias told the TV station.

Farias was the fifth Marine from the 1/5 Battalion killed this month, as the post-poppy harvest fighting season in southwestern Afghanistan heated up. A sixth, Lance Cpl. Joe M. Jackson, died April 24th.

Farias was serving his first combat deployment since he enlisted in the Corps Aug. 17, 2009, the 1st Marine Division said. His personal service awards include the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and Afghanistan Campaign Medal.
From Corpus Christy Caller Times caller.com 05/04/11

A hero's welcome for Marine Cpl. Mark Goyet

By Clay Thorp

Draped in an U.S. flag and surrounded by the family and Marines he loved, Cpl. Mark R. Goyet came home to a hero's welcome on the Fourth of July.

As six Marines in their iconic dress blue uniforms carried the flag-draped casket, some family members cried, others stood in silent reverence.

"Nobody likes to see Marines like Mark come home like this," said First Sgt. Paul Crawford, who was in charge of the Marine pallbearers.

Goyet, a Sinton High School graduate, was killed Tuesday in Afghanistan. He was shot several times in the chest and died before medics reached him.

Afghanistan's Helmand Province is a dangerous assignment for any war fighter, said Crawford, a 17-year Marine Corps veteran who has served one tour in Iraq and three tours in Afghanistan.

"Sometimes you'll go two or three weeks without getting into a fire fight, then all of a sudden it's the worst you've ever been in," he said.

"It's the unknown ... that makes it bad."

Goyet, the youngest of three siblings, volunteered for service in Afghanistan after serving one tour in Iraq as a mortar man, family members said.

Goyet's father said his son's sense of commitment to his friends led him to volunteer.

"There are a lot of Marines who really cared about him," said Staff Sgt. James Hammock, who was stationed with Goyet at Twentynine Palms, Calif.

"He never seemed to be in a bad mood," Hammock said.

His family and friends remember him for his joyful smile and wonderful hugs. He embraced life and enjoyed it like there was no tomorrow, they said.

More than 150 people many holding U.S. flags waited outside the hangar for Goyet's return. Many held tissues to their eyes as the hearse passed or placed their hands over their hearts. Members of the Patriot Guard Riders of South Texas presented a sharp hand salute.

"I lost my grandson in Iraq in 2003," said Butch "Turtle" Cone, a Vietnam veteran and assistant state ride captain for the Patriot Guard. "It's like burying him all over again.

" ... We've lost a lot of good kids."

Sinton will honor Goyet during a Memorial Service at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday under the lights at Sinton High School's Pirate Stadium, where Goyet, an all-district pick in football, played.

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