Name: Marine Lance Cpl. Kenneth E. Cochran Age: 22 From: Wilder, ID Assigned to 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan Incident: Marine Lance Cpl. Kenneth E. Cochran died Jan. 15 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, while conducting combat operations.
Pendleton, Okinawa Marines die in Afghanistan
Marine Corps Times staff report
Two Marines were killed Sunday in Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department.
Cpl. Jon-Luke Bateman and Lance Cpl. Kenneth E. Cochran died in combat in Helmand province, Pentagon officials said in a news release issued Tuesday. It&rsquos not immediately clear if their deaths are related.
Bateman, 22, of Tulsa, Okla., was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif. An infantryman, he was on his first combat deployment.
Cochran, 20, of Wilder, Idaho, was assigned to 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, out of Okinawa, Japan. He was a water support technician.
Marines with 2/4 have been operating in the southern part of Musa Qala, according Lt. Col. Bill Vivian, the battalion&rsquos commander, who posted a message Saturday on the unit&rsquos Facebook page.
Earlier this month they launched Operation Double Check, aimed at booting Taliban fighters from the area, which he referred to as &ldquocontested terrain.&rdquo
The enemy, he said in his message, &ldquodoesn&rsquot want to let it go.&rdquo
Vivian said 2/4 is scheduled to be replaced in March by Camp Pendleton&rsquos 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines. Ninth ESB has been in theater only since late-November.
Marine remembered for 'bubbly personality'
The Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho &mdash The family of an Idaho Marine killed during combat in Afghanistan says he and his "bubbly personality" will be greatly missed by those who knew him.
The Department of Defense confirmed 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Kenneth Cochran, of Wilder, died Sunday in Helmand province. He was killed during combat operations along with 22-year-old Cpl. Jon-Luke Bateman, of Tulsa, Okla.
Military officials didn't detail how the Marines died.
Cochran's family issued a statement Tuesday, saying he is survived by his father George Cochran, a former Marine, and his mother, Army Capt. Julia Cochran. He also had two sisters and a brother.
Cochran graduated from Parma High School in 2010.
He was assigned to the 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, Japan.
Died: January 15, 2012