Richard P. Schoener
Profile
Age: 21
From: Hayes, La.
Assigned to 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii
Incident: Marine Cpl. Richard P. Schoener was killed May 8 while conducting combat operations in Alishang, Afghanistan.
Died: May 08, 2005
Marine from La. killed in Afghanistan
Associated Press
LAKE CHARLES, La. — A 21-year-old Marine from the small southwestern Louisiana town of Hayes was one of two soldiers killed by insurgents during a five-hour battle in Afghanistan.
Ricky Schoener’s step-grandmother said his family had just returned home from a camping trip Sunday evening when three men in uniform showed up at their door.
“We saw them and we just knew,” Norma Breaux said. “We just knew.”
Schoener graduated with honors from Bell City High in 2001 and principal Reinette Guillory said his loss is a “great blow” to the community.
“He had lot of ambition and goals,” Guillory said. “He definitely was an asset to our community and would have come back as a leader of our community.”
The battle in Afghanistan was the latest in a string of conflicts that the military said has resulted in heavy losses for militants who have intensified...