Fabbri: Combat Cameraman dies in Combat Operation
It is with deep sorrow that we report that a Camp Pendleton-based combat camera photographer was killed in combat in Afghanistan on Sept. 28.
Lance Cpl. Ralph J. Fabbri, of Gallitzin, Pennsylvania died at age 20 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan according to the Department of Defense. He was assigned to the Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. He is a 2008 graduate of Penn Cambria High School where he was an art honors student. He was outgoing, artistic as well as an avid hunter and fisherman.
Fabbri enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps soon after graduation where he served as a Combat Photographer. He went to DINFOS and graduated from Basic Still Photography in 2009 and more recently, the Digital Multi-Media Course in February of this year. He was in the final weeks of a six-month tour. As a talented artist, some of his work is displayed at his high school and has also been exhibited at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Mount Aloysius College.
According to the Altoona Mirror, Fabbri aspired to be an art teacher after his tour and will be remember as “a down-to-earth, fun-loving and considerate person.”
DINFOS will hold a remembrance ceremony in the Hall of Heroes to honor LCpl. Fabbri once they receive the name plate for The Wall.
Editor’s note: A very nice piece honoring Fabbri written by Gunnery Sgt. William Price can be seen on the DVIDS website or copy and paste the following URL: http://admin.dvidshub.net/?script=news/news_show.php&id=58459