Four Marines killed in Afghanistan remembered at Camp Pendleton

Four Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment, killed in Afghanistan were praised Friday at a ceremony at Camp Pendleton as heroes who thought more about their buddies' safety than their own.

Cpl. Brandon Grodsky said that Cpl. Alex Martinez had a knack for discovering the buried bombs that are the Taliban's weapon of choice.

"Marines felt safer with him leading the patrol," Grodsky said.

Martinez, 21, of Elgin, Ill.; Sgt. Wade Wilson, 22, of Webster, Texas; Lance Cpl. Joshua Witsman, 23, of Danville, Ill.; and Cpl. Anthony Servin, 22, of Riverside, were killed in separate incidents during the recent seven-month deployment.

Servin's brother, Lance Cpl. Juan Servin, was at the ceremony to honor his brother and comfort their mother and other relatives. He will soon deploy to Afghanistan, although the Marine Corps offered to let him stay at Camp Pendleton.

"He would have wanted me to go," Servin said of his brother.

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-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Marines place helmets on the inverted rifle displays honoring four fallen colleagues. Credit: Marine Sgt. Alfred Lopez