Military officials announce names of 13 service members killed in Kabul

Military officials on Saturday, Aug. 28, released the name of the 13 Americans killed when two bombs were exploded at the the Kabul airport in Afghanistan.

Officials confirmed that nine of the 11 Marines killed while they secured the Abbey gate at the perimeter around the Hamid Karzai International Airport came from a 1st Marine Division unit at Camp Pendleton.

They were part of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, who had deployed to the Middle East as part of a crisis response force and were sent to help secure the airport. A Navy Corpsman, Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio, was assigned to the 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, also at Camp Pendleton.

Three of the Marines are from Southern California, Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga; Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio; and Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco.

Others listed among the dead are:

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah

Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts

Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Roseville, California

Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska

Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming

The soldier killed from the Army was Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee. He was assigned to 9th PSYOP Battalion, 8th PSYOP Group, Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.

The 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines – called The Professionals – is located at Camp Horno on the sprawling seaside bases’s northern edge next to San Clemente.

At the end of the Vietnam War, in 1975, the battalion helped run a temporary shelter at Camp Pendleton that assisted thousands of Vietnamese refugees fleeing the collapse of Saigon.

Sgt. Gee was assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit of the II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, NC.

And, Sgt. Rosario Pichardo was assigned to 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Naval Support Activity Bahrain.

Source: Orange County Register