Faoa L. Apineru
Profile
Age: 31
From: Yorba Linda, Calif.
Assigned to Headquarters Company, 23rd Marines, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve
Incident: Marine Staff Sgt. Faoa L. Apineru died July 2, 2007, from wounds sustained on May 15, 2005, in Anbar, Iraq, while supporting combat operations. After his death, the initial medical examiner concluded that Apineru did not die from injuries sustained during his deployment, but a subsequent opinion by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology indicated that his death was a result of his injuries sustained in Iraq.
Died: July 02, 2007
2007 Marine death recognized as casualty
By Dan Lamothe
Staff writer
More than a year after his death and three years after he was wounded, a reservist staff sergeant was formally recognized as a casualty of the Iraq war for the first time Wednesday.
Staff Sgt. Faoa L. Apineru, 31, of Yorba Linda, Calif., died July 2, 2007, from wounds sustained while supporting combat operations in Anbar, Iraq, Defense Department officials said. He was assigned to Headquarters Company, 23rd Marines.
Apineru was patrolling the northern border of Iraq on May 15, 2005, when he was hit by a roadside bomb, according to obituaries published when he died. The wounds he received to his head left him with traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, extreme memory loss and frequent nightmares, and he had to re-learn how to drive and speak, the obituaries said.
Apineru died at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care...