José Antonio Gutiérrez (born Guatemala City,

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

1 December 1980 – died Umm Qasr, Iraq 21 March 2003) was a

US Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

Lance Corporal and the second US Marine killed in action in the Iraq War. Gutiérrez and his sister were orphaned in Guatemala City in the mid 1980s. He was taken into the

Casa Alianza Casa Alianza is an international non-profit organization and the Latin American branch of Covenant House. It is a Non-governmental Organization (NGO) providing shelter, food, immediate crisis care, and an array of other services to homeless and ...

residential care program, where he also attended school, earning high marks. By 1992 he had joined his sister Engracia with a family in Chinautla, Guatemala. In 1997 Gutiérrez crossed illegally into the United States, was detained by the

Immigration and Naturalization Service The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and the U.S. Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003. Referred to by some as former INS and by others as legacy INS, ...

, then received asylum and was placed with a foster family in Lomita, California. He entered high school and then completed college over the next few years. Gutiérrez joined the Marine Corps on March 25, 2002. After basic training, he was assigned to 2nd Battalion,

1st Marine Regiment The 1st Marine Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps based at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. The regiment is under the command of the 1st Marine Division and the I Marine Expeditionary Force. The 1st ...

1st Marine Division The 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) is a Marine division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the ground combat element of the I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF). It is the ...

. The Division was dispatched to the Middle East, and the 2nd Battalion was attached to the

15th Marine Expeditionary Unit The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU) is one of seven such units currently in existence in the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) is a Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) with a strength of about 2,200 per ...

for the opening ground offensive of the Iraq Warthe

Battle of Umm Qasr The Battle of Umm Qasr was the first military confrontation in the Iraq War. At the start of the war, one of the first objectives was the Umm Qasr Port, port of Umm Qasr. On 21 March 2003, as allied forces advanced across Southern Iraq, an amphi ...

. In the opening of the Battle, on March 21, 2003, Gutiérrez became the first US Marine killed in action. His body was returned to Guatemala City for burial. His life and death are the basis for the documentary film '' The Short Life of José Antonio Gutiérrez''.

David Emanuel Hickman David Emanuel Hickman (January 16, 1988 – November 14, 2011), was the last American soldier killed in the Iraq War. David Hickman was born on January 16, 1988, and was a lifelong resident of Greensboro, North Carolina. He graduated from Northeas ...

, of the U.S. Army's

82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...

, was the last US service member killed in the Iraq War. He died on November 14, 2011, eight years and eight months after Gutiérrez was killed.

References

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* 1980 births 2003 deaths American military personnel killed in the Iraq War Guatemalan emigrants to the United States Hispanic and Latino American military personnel People from Guatemala City United States Marine Corps personnel of the Iraq War Basra Governorate in the Iraq War Friendly fire incidents of the Iraq War Military personnel killed by friendly fire {{USMC-bio-stub