Marine Lance Cpl. Juan Lopez

22, of Whitfield, Ga.; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed June 21 by hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq. Georgia Marine killed in Iraq ambush

DALTON, Ga. — A 22-year-old Georgia man was among four Marines killed Monday in Iraq during fighting in Anbar province.

Lance Cpl. Juan Lopez, of Dalton, was killed in an ambush in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The Pentagon officially announced his death on Thursday.

About 80 people attended a memorial service for Lopez on Tuesday at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Dalton.

“He was a good boy, always smiling,” said Alan Long, principal of Southeast Whitfield High School, where Lopez was a student and member of the soccer team. “He was one of those guys who did what he was supposed to do. I never knew what kind of Marine he was, but I’m sure he was a good one.”

Family members said it was unclear whether Lopez’s remains will be returned to Dalton or to Mexico, where his wife, mother and sisters live.

Lopez was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Georgia Soldier Ambushed, Killed

A Marine from Dalton, Ga. was killed in Iraq on Monday, according to a television news report. Juan Lopez, 22, was one of four Marines killed in an ambush in Ramadi.

The Marine’s family was informed of the soldier’s death on Monday.

“I really can’t believe what happened,” said Esteban Lopez, one of Juan’s brothers.

Lopez moved to Dalton in Whitfield County from Mexico as a teenager to be with his father and brother. He attended Southeast Whitfield High School

“In his pride in being an American, in being part of this country, I think he really looked at the armed forces as a way to say, you know, I’m a big part of this, because, I think, that was important to him,” principal Alan Long said.

“Sometimes we take for granted what we have here and I think a guy like Juan had much more respect and hunger for what we take advantage of. He really saw it as a source of pride to be here,” Long added.

He had served almost three-and-half years of a four-year commitment, according to a report by WRCB TV. Lopez had planned on leaving the Marines at the beginning of next year.

“He wanted to be different. He wanted to do something big,” said Juan’s cousin, Sylvia Rosas.

He had gotten married six months ago.

Members of the Lopez family held a private memorial service for the soldier on Tuesday. He will be buried in Mexico where his mother, sisters and wife still live.

The four Americans killed in Ramadi had failed to check in at an appointed time, and a search was launched.

Videotape delivered to The Associated Press Television News showed the four, still in uniform, lying dead near what appeared to be a walled compound.

The Above Picture is of Juan Lopez in The Southeast Whitfield High School Dalton,GA Senior Part of the 2001 Yearbook.

The Above Picture is of me Thomas Wolfgang Maguire and the person also on the picture is Juan Lopez he walked before me at the Southeast Whitfield High School Graduation on May 25, 2001.  Now he is walking forever in Heaven.

The Above 5 Pictures are of the Program of the Graduation of Southeast Whitfield High School on May 25, 2001. Juan Lopez name is right above mine.

Hey Juan,

Even though I never knew you only going with you to the same high school and graduating on the same day and walking infront of me I will never forget you. May You Rest in Peace Juan.

U.S. Marines arrive to the church during the funeral of 22-year-old U.S. Marine Juan Lopez, in his hometown of San Luis de la Paz in central Mexico, Sunday, July 4, 2004. Lopez emigrated to Georgia as a teenager, joined the Marines and was killed in an ambush in Iraq on June 21.(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Vistors view the coffin of 22-year-old U.S. Marine Juan Lopez, in his hometown of San Luis de la Paz in central Mexico, Saturday, July 3, 2004. Lopez was killed in an ambush in Iraq June 21. Lopez emigrated to the United States as a teenager. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)