Slain Marine from Yorba Linda remembered

Santa Ana Police Sgt. John Centanni, 51, at his home in Yorba Linda, reflects on the death of his son, Rick, a 19-year-old Marine lance corporal killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Slain Marine from Yorba Linda remembered
The death of Lance Cpl. Rick Centanni, 19, killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, stirs reflection at Esperanza High. He is the third from the Anaheim school to die in post-9/11 combat.
By Mike Anton

March 27, 2010
The death of Rick Centanni of Yorba Linda was announced Friday over the intercom at Esperanza High School in Anaheim.

Class of 2008. Member of the football team. Marine lance corporal killed earlier this week by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Just 19.

A secretary put Centanni's yearbook, the one in which his photo shows off his broad shoulders and wide smile, out at the front desk. Students, she knew, were sure to ask to see it.

This isn't the first time this has happened at Esperanza. Or the second. Centanni is the third Esperanza graduate killed in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2004.
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Slain Marine from Yorba Linda remembered