Combat deaths of 7 N.C.-based Marines, soldiers reported

A Marine from Charlotte on his second tour in Iraq is among seven North Carolina-based military personnel who died recently in combat or as a result of wounds in Iraq.

Lance Cpl. Cliff K. Golla, 21, died Friday from wounds received after insurgents detonated an explosive device near his unit, family members said Wednesday. His sister, Lynette Ingram, said Golla saved the other members of his 10-member squad.

"He was leading the group," she said.

Golla, a rifleman, was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at the Camp Lejeune Marine Base at Jacksonville. A base spokesman said Golla had joined the Marines in February 2004.

Ingram, Golla's oldest sister, said her brother joined the Marines because he thought it would be good for him.

"It was like he found himself," she told the Charlotte Observer. "He felt closer to us; he didn't mind if we hugged him and kissed him. Cliff never felt the Marines necessarily was his calling. But he thought it would be good for him."

Golla, the only son of Polish immigrants, was born in Buffalo, N.Y., and moved to Charlotte in 1988. He graduated from Providence High School in 2003.

His sister and friends described Golla as a prankster who always encouraged them to strive to do better. He was something of a matchmaker, too, having introduced Lynette and her husband.

"He was amazing, he was so funny," she said. "I personally think he touched everyone he came in contact with."

She said her brother left on his second deployment to Iraq in September 2005. He told relatives he did not think he would return.

The family has established the Cliff Golla Memorial Fund in his memory.

In addition to Golla, two other Marines from Camp Lejeune died Sunday during combat operations in Al Anbar province, the Department of Defense said. They were Lance Cpl. Philip A. Johnson, 19, of Hartford, Conn., a rifleman who joined the service in December 2003, and Pvt. Ryan E. Miller, 21, of Gahanna, Ohio, a rifleman who joined in July 2005.

Johnson and Miller were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division.

The Department of Defense announced Wednesday the deaths of two paratroopers from Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division. Both were killed over the weekend in an area south of Baghdad.

Staff Sgt. Angel D. Mercado, 25, of Puerto Rico, died Friday when he was hit by mortar rounds, according to a Fort Bragg news release. Sgt. Ralph N. Porras, 36, of Merrill, Mich., died Saturday after coming under attack by gunfire. Both men were in the 1st Battalion of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment.

Mercado is survived by his wife, Sheila; son, Angel; and step-daughter, Sheiliane, all of Fayetteville. He joined the Army in June 2002 and had spent a previous year in Iraq and a tour in Afghanistan to support the country's elections last summer.

Porras, who joined the Army in 2003, leaves behind his wife, Christine, and a son, Gabriel.

He served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and joined the Army because of concern about the safety of the United States, according to a statement from his wife Christine.

"He loved being a soldier," Christine Porras wrote. "He took his duty as sergeant seriously and was passionate about serving the men he led and those he served with."

The deaths of two other Fort Bragg soldiers were announced Tuesday.

Cpl. Shannon L. Squires, 25, of Virginia Beach, Va., died Aug. 28 in Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, of injuries sustained Apr. 21 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Squires was assigned to the Army's 3rd Battalion, 321 Field Artillery Regiment, 18th Field Artillery Brigade, XVIIIth Airborne Corps Artillery.

Pfc. Justin W. Dreese, 21, of Northumberland, Pa., died in Yusifiyah, Iraq, Saturday of injuries suffered from mortar fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.

(Staff writer Sarah Ovaska and The Charlotte Observer contributed information to this report.)