Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Gifford 2nd KIA in a week from Palm Bay

Marine killed in Afghanistan was due home in a month
Gifford is 2nd service member from Palm Bay to die in a week
Written by
R. Norman Moody
FLORIDA TODAY
12:48 AM, Aug 1, 2012

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Gifford of Palm Bay was one month from completing his deployment to Afghanistan when he and another Marine were killed while on patrol.

Gifford — a 1996 graduate of Melbourne Catholic High, where he played soccer and baseball — had been in the Marine Corps for about 15 years.

He is the second service member from Palm Bay killed within a week in the war in Afghanistan, and the third in the past year.

Army Spc. Justin Louis Horsley, 21, a 2009 graduate of Bayside High, died July 22 while on patrol in Pul-E Alam, Afghanistan. Jeremiah T. Sancho, 23, died Oct. 13, 2011 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Both their units were attacked with improvised explosive devices.
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