Lance Cpl. John James Van Gyzen, IV
Born June 16, 1983 in Rhode Island
Died July 5, 2004 in Al Anbar, Iraq
Lance Cpl. John J. Van Gyzen of Bristol, Massachusetts, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on October 9, 2001, while still a student at Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School. His goal was to obtain training and experience so he could fulfill his dream of becoming a member of the Massachusetts State police Department SWAT Team. He took his initial training at Parris Island, South Carolina then was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment as a rifleman in March of 2002. He served his first tour of duty in Iraq from January to September 2003, and then returned to Twentynine Palms, California. During this time he married his wife, Amanda. He deployed again in February 2004, assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, from Twentynine Palms. When he left, his parents hung a yellow ribbon on a tree on their property. John was to take it down when he returned home in October. He was planning on enlisting for another six years and working with the military police. Growing up John had been very active in the outdoors, from fishing to snowmobiling to dirt biking. He also cared deeply for his community, running a food drive for his church. John left for his deployment with some apprehension, while he felt it an important honor to be serving, he also felt a bit scared, going up against a fearless and skilled enemy. John’s duties included doing door-to-door searches. John never got to take that ribbon down, on July 5, John was killed as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province. He was buried in Rhode Island Veteran Memorial Cemetery in Exeter, Rhode Island. (Note that the Department of Defense spells John’s surname as Vangyzen.)
The Lance Cpl. John James Van Gyzen, IV by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
