Eclectic Amateur

24 Hour News 8 talks to relatives of Michigan native soldier killed in Iraq

Two U.S. Marines were killed Wednesday when their helicopter crashed near Ramadi, Iraq. Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed Thursday to have shot down the chopper. The military said the helicopter was flying in support of ground operations in the area.

One of those two Marines, 39-year-old Major Gerald Bloomfield II, was a native from the east side of Michigan.

CNN and Reuters have the story too, but without mentioning the Marines by name. The DoD press release is here.

Local news has more about him, his family, and how he felt about the whole affair over there:

He leaves behind a son, Ryan, 13; wife, Julie Bloomfield of White Pigeon; two sisters, Paula Wallace of Howell and Katy Kerch of Brighton; brother, Tom Bloomfield of Chelsea; mother Shirley Spears of Howell; and stepmother Judy Bloomfield of Ypsilanti. (Lansing State Journal)

He told his parents not to worry, because he believed in his comrades and in their training, his father said.

“He strongly believed in what he was doing,” Judy Bloomfield said. “He wasn’t afraid. He wanted to fight for his country.” (Ann Arbor News)

At Eastern Michigan University he earned double degrees in math and physics. Before graduating in ’89, he joined the Marines. Becoming and officer and eventually a pilot. Years later, married and with a son, he was a career military man who believed in the job he was doing in Iraq.

Paula: “By being there, he was protecting us and everything we have here.”

And he also believed in the freedom and the future of the country he was fighting in. He wrote about it in email sent home.

Kate: “It’s not a 3rd world country. I believe it has hope. He wanted them to experience some of the same freedoms we have here.”

And it’s his sisters wish that people who knew her brother in Fowlerville understand this, as well as the people of Iraq and in the country he was so proud to defend. Major Bloomfield will be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. (WLNS)

Why highlight one fallen soldier out of over 2,000? Because, while I never met Jerry Bloomfield in life, we know some of the extended Bloomfield family through the local homeschooling community, and therefore mourn his loss with them.

God bless you, Major. And thank you.