Fernando Padilla-Ramirez
Rank/Branch: Sgt./Marines
Unit: Marine Wing Support Squadron 371 at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma
Age: 26
Date of Birth
Home City of Record: San Luis, Arizona
Date of Loss:
Country of Loss: Iraq
Loss Coordinates: Nasiriyah
Status: MIA/Iraq - Remains recovered - identified April 11, 2003
Category:
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Convoy
Personnel in Incident:
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: April 12, 2003

REMARKS: Mar 30, 2003
No. 231-03 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2003
DOD ANNOUNCES CHANGE IN MARINE CASUALTY STATUS
The Department of Defense announced today it has changed the status of Marine Sgt. Fernando Padilla-Ramirez from Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown (DUSTWUN) to killed in action. Sgt. Padilla-Ramirez, 26, of San Luis, Ariz., was assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron-371, Marine Wing Support Group-37, Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, Ariz. He was last seen conducting convoy operations in the vicinity of Al Nasiriyah on 28 March. His remains were identified on April 10.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2003/b04112003_bt231-03.html

Missing Ariz. Marine last seen in convoy
Military officials notify Sgt. Padilla-Ramirez's family Saturday of his disappearance near an Iraqi town.
The Associated Press
March 31, 2003
PHOENIX - A Marine from San Luis who was last seen conducting convoy operations near Nasiriyah was listed as missing yesterday by the Department of Defense.
Relatives of Sgt. Fernando Padilla-Ramirez, 26, were notified by the military of his status Saturday and were waiting anxiously for more information, said his mother, Lorenza R. Padilla.
"We're very sad," she said from her home in San Luis, her voice trembling during a phone conversation. "We're thinking the worst."
Padilla-Ramirez is assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron 371 at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma. He was last seen Friday, according to a Defense Department release.
No other information was immediately available. Officials at the Yuma air station didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment yesterday to The Associated Press.
Padilla-Ramirez was deployed about a month ago, leaving about five days after the birth of his second son, said Padilla. He also has a 5-year-old boy, she said.
Padilla said she hasn't spoken to her son since he left but has received news about him through her daughter-in-law.
The mother said her son was born in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico, across the border from San Luis. He was naturalized about two years ago, she said.
She said he joined the Marines as a teenager, served for four years and then signed up for another three. He is in the last year of his military commitment, Padilla said.
Padilla-Ramirez is one of two Arizona residents listed among those missing in Iraq. The other, Pfc. Lori Piestewa of Tuba City, is a member of the Army's 507th Maintenance Company, which was attacked by Iraqi soldiers March 23

U.S. Veteran Dispatch
www.usvetdsp.com/main.shtml