Joshua Jerald Ware
Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps

Joshua Jerald Ware was of Kiowa/Comanche descent and from the Apache, OK, area. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on 28 May 2003. Ware's assigned unit, H Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, was deployed in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and he served in Iraq from 1 March to 2 October, 2003.

Ware and five other Marines were in a photo titled 'Streets of Fire' on the pages of the 19 April 2004 issue of Time Magazine. He fought in the second battle for Fallujah.

Corporal Ware returned to Iraq on 20 October 2005. On 16 November 2005, during Operation Steel Curtain, outside the city of Ubaydi, near the Syrian border, Ware and four other Marines were killed in a bloody gun battle while clearing a farmhouse. A fellow Marine who was injured in the battle said, "We had already cleared over 200 houses when we entered the farmhouse - an explosion took out the first two Marines who entered. Cpl Ware kicked in a side door and drew fire from the insurgents, allowing the downed Marines to be pulled out of the farmhouse. Cpl Ware continued to fire his weapon until he died from small arms fire."

During the gun battle, all sixteen terrorists in the farmhouse were killed.

Medals and Awards

Purple Heart
Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal
Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat Valor Device
Navy & Marine Corps Combat Action Ribbon with Gold Star
National Defense Service Medal
Iraq Campaign Medal
Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Sea Service Deployment Ribbon with 2 Bronze Service Stars

Burial

Corporal Joshua Jerald Ware is buried at Rainy Mountain Cemetery in Mountain View, Kiowa County, OK.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=124429373

This Honoree Record was prepared with the valuable assistance of Lanny G. Asepermy, Sergeant Major, U.S. Army (Ret.) [Honoree Record ID 227117], Historian for the Comanche Indian Veterans Association in Lawton, OK. Photo is courtesy of SMG Asepermy and the Comanche Nation Museum.