Honoree: Jason D. Mileo


Jason D. Mileo
Dates: Died April 14, 2003
Hometown: Centreville, MD
Branch of Service: Marine Corps
Rank: Corporat
Player: Joshua Koo

Corporal Jason D. Mileo, 20, of Centreville, Md, was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division based in Twentynine Palms, California. On April 14, 2003, he was killed by friendly fire when he was mistaken for an enemy combatant by another unit in the vicinity of Baghdad.

Cpl. Mileo grew up in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay country, where he hunted and fished with his father and grandfather. He graduated in 2000 from Chesapeake High School in Pasadena, Md., and joined the Marines six days later.

Cpl Mileo was an expert marksman, a skill he picked up in hunting expeditions as a child, and attended amphibious reconnaissance training, the toughest in the Marine Corps. As a member of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment -- the "Thundering Third" -- he was among the first troops sent to Kuwait in preparation for the invasion of Iraq.

His high school Principal Harry Calender remembers him as a “solid kid,” who seldom missed school, played on the golf team and loved working on the crew for the drama club. “He was one of those kids you knew would grow up to do everything right.”

Cpl. Mileo is survived by his parents and brother.