KEITH, NE, USA
U.S. Marines
CAPT, HMLA 267, MAG 39, 3D MAW, CAMP PENDLETON, CA
ALI AZIZIYAL, IRAQ 04/05/2003
Marine Captain Travis Ford was a graduate of Ogallala (Neb.) High School and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he graduated in 1996 with an accounting degree. He also was a cheerleader at the university, using that status to propose to his wife via megaphone as other cheerleaders held up placards reading, “Will You Marry Me, Deon?” He later lived in Oceanside, Calif., with his wife and 1-year-old daughter, Ashley.
Ford, 30, who was based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., died April 5 when his helicopter crashed.
In e-mails to his relatives, Ford wrote that he was seeing things in Iraq he didn’t want to see. But he felt worse for the ground troops who couldn’t return to base.
“I know there were some trying times for him,” but he didn’t let that get him down, said his brother, Alex Ford. “He was probably more concerned about his troops than his own welfare.”
He followed in the footsteps of his older brother, Alex, in joining the Marines.
“Travis had a tremendous devotion to God and his country and to his family and the Marine Corps,” Alex said. “He died giving his life for the country. That is a tremendous sacrifice, but he did so willingly…. He is going to be significantly missed.”