Active Duty|Obits

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.

Col. John Grider Miller (USMC Ret.)

Retired Marine Colonel John Grider Miller, selected as this year’s recipient of the Brig. Gen. Robert L. Denig Memorial Distinguished Performance Award, died suddenly at his home in Annapolis, MD on Monday, August 31.

Miller was to have received our prestigious award on September 17 at our annual Merit Awards Banquet in Hampton, VA.  Cause of death is not known at this time.  Funeral arrangements will be announced as they are received.

Colonel Miller has been one of the Corps most prolific writers as Deputy Director of History and Museums and as speechwriter to three Commandants.  Following retirement he served 15 years as Managing Editor of the U. S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings Magazine.   He is best known for his book, Bridge at Dong Ha – the John Ripley story – optioned as a motion picture.  At his death he was engaged in writing a history of the Marine Barracks at 8th and I. 

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