Staff Sgt. Marc A. Arizmendez of Anaheim killed in Afghanistan

A soldier from Anaheim, slain last week in Afghanistan, was remembered by his friends today as the hardest-working man they ever knew.

Staff Sergeant Marc A. Arizmendez and his wife, Barbara, before his deployment. (Facebook)

The fallen soldier was also remembered as a man always prepared for what lay ahead in combat.

Staff Sgt. Marc Andrew Arizmendez was one of three soldiers killed Tuesday in Afghanistan when the vehicle they were traveling in was bombed by insurgents, the Department of Defense reported.

Arizmendez’s body arrived in the United States Friday, and funeral services are pending.

The soldier was eulogized on a new Facebook page, where a picture shows a smiling Arizmendez with his wife Barbara and their two children, Justin and Jenny. Other photos show a much more serious Arizmendez stationed in Germany and in Afghanistan.

His Army commander, buddies and friends from California eulogized the fallen soldier from Southern California today on the Facebook page.

“I am sorry for taking so much time to write on this site,” wrote Lance Howard Sr., who identified himself as Arizmendez’s commanding officer. “Forgive me, I am having some trouble getting the courage to do this without breaking down. Losing a solider under your command is hard, but this one was especially hard for me,”

Richard Caballero, who said he was Arizmendez’s first sergeant at the training base at Fort Bliss, Texas, wrote that the 30-year-old sergeant was “always training and preparing himself, bettering himself” and called the man he once trained “a true professional.”

“Everything said about him couldn’t be said better,” added fellow soldier Engy Espi. “In the Army you do what you’re told. But regardless of rank mark had your attention because you know if he had something to say you needed to listen.”

Arizmendez and the other two slain soldiers, Spec. Roger Lee of Monterey, and PFC Michael S. Pridham, of Louisville, Ken., were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, based in Hohenfels, Germany. The soldiers were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Arizmendez’s remains arrived Friday morning at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, and services were pending. By today, 466 people had joined the memorial page for Arizmendez on Facebook.

The sergeant was remembered for a love of vintage Volkswagens stemming from his childhood in Orange County, which included owning a 1968 VW bus and several Beetles.

Arizmendez graduated from St. Catherine’s Military Academy in Anaheim in 1994. His family lives near downtown Anaheim, the Orange County Register reported today.

Tags: Afghanistan, anaheim, bomb, Facebook, Lance Howard Sr., Louisville, Marc Andrew Arizmendez, Monterey, Orange County, PFC Michael S. Pridham, solders killed, Spec. Roger Lee, SWRNN, War

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 10th, 2010 at 10:14 am and is filed under Local News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.