Two more locally based Marines identified among dead in copter crash

By: JOE BECK - Staff Writer | Monday, February 12, 2007 9:55 PM PST ∞

CAMP PENDLETON -- Two more Camp Pendleton-based Marines killed last week in a helicopter crash in Iraq were identified by the Pentagon Monday.

The latest locally based Marines to be identified among the total of seven dead were Lt. Jared M. Landaker, 25, of Big Bear City, and Sgt. James R. Tijerina, 26, of Beasley, Texas. The Pentagon also confirmed the deaths of two other Camp Pendleton Marines who were identified through family members, friends and media reports last week. They are Capt. Jennifer J. Harris, 28, of Swampscott, Mass., and Sgt. Travis Pfister, 27, of Richland, Wash.

A fifth Marine identified among the dead, Cpl. Thomas E. Saba, 30, of Toms River, N.J., spent about six months training at Camp Pendleton in 2002 or 2003, according to one of his sisters.

Landaker, Tijerina, Harris and Pfister were assigned to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 364 in the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is based at Camp Pendleton and attached to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. Saba was a member of a helicopter squadron based in Okinawa, Japan.

The cause of Wednesday's helicopter crash remains under investigation. Some Pentagon officials last week said they lacked evidence to show that it was shot down by insurgents. However, an Iraqi air force officer said ground fire by insurgents brought down the CH-46 Sea Knight troop transport helicopter.

The Pentagon also identified two sailors among the dead. They are Petty Officer Gilbert Minjares Jr. 31, of El Paso, Texas, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Manuel A. Ruiz, 21, of Federalsburg, Md. Minjares and Ruiz were based in North Carolina.

Monday's announcement raised the number of locally based Marines killed in Iraq to at least 326.

Members of Tijerina's family and Landaker's family could not be reached for comment.

Members of Saba's family, speaking by telephone from his New Jersey home, said he was about to be discharged from the Marines in April, but chose to re-enlist for a chance to accompany his Okinawa-based unit to Iraq after spending three or four years on Okinawa. Mary Ellen Saba, his sister, said her brother had been in Iraq's combat zone for less than a week when he died.

"He would have returned home without ever having gone to Iraq, but he volunteered to go to Iraq and none of us understood why," said Laura Saba, another sister.

-- Contact staff writer Joe Beck at (760) 740-3516 or jbeck@nctimes.com.