Maryland's Forty-First Hero

alessandrocarbonaro
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Marine Sgt. Alessandro Carbonaro, 28, of Bethesda, Md.; assigned to the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died May 10 at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, from wounds received May 1 while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Anbar province, Iraq.

HIS DOCTORS PLANTED A TREE IN HIS MEMORY

Marine Sgt. Alessandro Carbonaro of Bethesda, who died Wednesday from injuries received while fighting in Iraq, made a great impression on all who met him and was an extremely honest and dedicated man, his father said Thursday.

“I never saw him so dedicated” after joining the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C., Fulvio Carbonaro said of his son.

Sgt. Carbonaro, 28, died of injuries he sustained May 1 while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in the Anbar province of Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. An IED exploded near a Humvee he was driving, Fulvio Carbonaro said Thursday by phone from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where Fulvio and Gilda Carbonaro went to see their son after he was wounded.

Alessandro Carbonaro graduated from Sandy Spring High School in 1997. He enjoyed ice hockey and playing music. He and several friends were in a band that played local shows before he deployed.

He joined the Marines after the 2001 terrorist attacks, his father said.

This was Sgt. Carbonaro’s second tour of duty in Iraq. On his first tour, Alessandro was injured in Fallujah and received a Purple Heart. He returned to Iraq in March.

His family said the Marine was totally committed to serving his country and the war effort. “He only had his job to do and that’s all that really mattered,” his father said.

Fulvio Carbonaro said doctors at the hospital were deeply moved by Alessandro and are planting a tree in a park near the hospital in his memory.

Through tears, Fulvio said, “Regardless of how people feel, everybody is totally dedicated ... to the people in uniform who sacrifice themselves.”

Alessandro Carbonaro is also survived by his wife, Gilda.