WMBFNews.com | Myrtle Beach/Florence, SC | News, Weather, SportsFormer Citadel student killed in combat
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CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jonathan Andrew Taylor, a member of The Citadel Class of 2009, died Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Taylor, 22, of Jacksonville, Fla., died during combat operations in Helmand province of Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
According to media reports, Taylor was patrolling as an infantryman when he was killed by an improvised explosive device. He was on his second deployment to the Middle East. He left for Afghanistan about two months ago, almost a year after coming home from Iraq.
The Florida Times-Union in his hometown of Jacksonville, Fla., reported that Taylor began his military career in the Naval Sea Cadets Corps when he was 13. In high school he enrolled in the Army Junior ROTC program. After graduating from Wolfson Senior High School in 2005 he enrolled at The Citadel.
Taylor was honorably discharged from The Citadel at the end of his knob year in the spring of 2006. He did not return to complete his degree and graduate but in 2007 enlisted in the Marine Corps. While in the South Carolina Corps of Cadets, Taylor was a history major and a member of Mike Company.
Taylor's death brings to 15 the number of Citadel alumni who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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