Patrick T. O'Day
Rank/Branch: Lance Cpl./Marines
Unit:
1st Marine Division Age: 20
Date of Birth
Home City of Record: Sonoma, Calif.
Date of Loss: March 28, 2003 (maybe Mar. 27)
Country of Loss: Iraq
Loss Coordinates: Crossing the Euphrates River
Status: MIA/Iraq -- Declared dead- remains recovered
Category:
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Tank
Personnel in Incident: Marine Staff Sgt. Donald C. May, Jr., 31, Richmond, Va., Marine Lance Cpl. Patrick T. O'Day, 20, Sonoma, Calif., Marine Pfc. Francisco A. MartinezFlores, 21, Los Angeles

Source: Compiled by Last Firebase Veterans Archives Project from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Date Updated: March 31, 2003

REMARKS: When 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Patrick O'Day learned he was heading to Kuwait in January, he was anxious to serve.
"He was proud to represent the Marines and was looking forward to doing what he was trained to do," his father Tim O'Day said.
Stationed at Twenty nine Palms (San Bernardino County) as member of the 1st Marine Division, he married his high school sweetheart, Shauna. before he shipped overseas. The couple is expecting their first child in September.
Tim O'Day said March 30 that he and his wife, Angela, learned that Patrick had gone missing in Iraq when they received a phone call March 28 from a Marine captain.
Marine Corps officials told the family that O'Day's tank had apparently plunged off a bridge as it was crossing the Euphrates River. It was later found upside down and under water, and materials bearing O'Day's name and those of two fellow soldiers were found, military officials told the family.
Born in Scotland in 1983, Patrick O'Day and his family moved to California in 1987 and settled in Santa Rosa. He graduated from Santa Rosa High School in 2001 and joined the Marines.
"As far as the Iraqi conflict goes, as a family we're extremely supportive of the coalition over there. We just wish the American public will continue giving them their support."

May 31, 2003
Missing Twentynine Palms marines confirmed dead
AP__The Pentagon confirms that the three missing marines from the Twentynine Palms Base are dead.
The Pentagon says they were conducting convoy operations near the Euphrates River when they disappeared.
Last night after midnight the three pulled from the river were 20 year old Lance Corporal Patrick O'Day from Sonoma, and 21 year old Private First Class Francisco Martinez Flores from Los Angeles.
The third marine is 31 year old Staff Sergeant Donald May from Richmond, Virginia. All three were based at Twentynine Palms.


U.S. Veteran Dispatch
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