R.I.P. Lance Cpl. Timothy J. Poole

Marine Lance Cpl. Timothy J. Poole

22, of Bowling Green, Ky.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii; died Jan. 24 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

(Taken from http://bgdailynews.com of Jan. 27, 2010) Lt. Cpl. Timothy J. Poole Jr., 22, a 2007 graduate of Warren East High School, was killed Sunday during combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense.

Poole served with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force based in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. He grew up in Jacksonville, Fla., and moved with his family to Bowling Green in October 2005. After Poole enlisted, the family moved back to Jacksonville, where Poole will be laid to rest in Jacksonville National Cemetery.

He attended school in Bowling Green for just a short while, but he was remembered by many who knew him as a quiet, polite young man who wanted to be Marine.

Warren East agriculture teacher Dan Costellow taught Poole in two classes.

“I remember him as a nice kid who wanted to go into the military. I was happy for him and felt like it would help him figure out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life,” Costellow said. “Anytime you hear about a soldier being killed for us, it is sad, but this young man was my student. This is just terrible and upsets me a great deal.”

“Our hearts go out to his friends and family and all those who knew him,” said Cindy Beals, Warren East High School principal. Beals was an assistant principal at the school at the time Poole attended. “It is just a terrible thing,” she said.

Warren East Assistant Principal Edwin Moss remembers Poole, who attended the school for less than two years during his junior and senior years. “Some kids just have a presence and you remember them, and he did,” Moss said. “He was a nice young man, very mannerly. His desire at the time was to become a Marine. He just stood out.”

Sgt. Joel Extine, a Marine Corp. recruiter from Bowling Green, signed Poole up in 2007 following his graduation. “He was an excellent young man,” Extine said. “He came in that day with his dad and brother, was very polite and quiet. He said he had always wanted to be a Marine. He had the heart of a Marine and could run like the wind. He was the kind of kid we wanted to enlist.”

Poole attended Lee High School in Jacksonville before moving to Kentucky. He returned to Jacksonville in November before going back to his base in Hawaii and leaving for Afghanistan, telling family that if he died in action it would be in service to his country, a sacrifice he was willing to take, said Mike Lyons, assignment editor for WTLV/WJXX in Jacksonville, who spoke with Poole’s father, Timothy Poole Sr., as he was headed to Dover, Del., on Tuesday to await the return of his son’s body. Poole Sr. was not available for comment by deadline Wednesday.

Lt. Col. Matthew Baker, Poole’s commanding officer, was quoted by the New York Times as stating that Poole had stepped on an IED - an improvised explosive device.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete but the family has asked that expressions of sympathy be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, Jacksonville, 7020 A.C. Skinner Pkwy, Suite 100, Jacksonville, FL 32256; www.woundedwarriorproject.org.