Marine from Grover Beach killed in action in Afghanistan

Lance Cpl. Jacob Toves died last week while serving in the Helmand province in southwest Afghanistan

AnnMarie Cornejo

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A U.S. Marine from Grover Beach was killed Thursday while supporting combat operations in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense announced Monday.

Lance Cpl. Jacob J. Toves, 27, died in the Helmand province in southwest Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense. He was assigned to the 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, which is based in Okinawa, Japan.

Toves had been part of a newly formed battalion, according to a Marine public affairs officer from Twentynine Palms, where Toves had been based before transferring to Okinawa. First Lt. Curtis Williamson said Monday evening that he was not in his office and could not provide details about Toves’ responsibilities in Afghanistan or how long he had been deployed.

Troops with local ties killed in Iraq or Afghanistan include:
• ARMY SGT. ROBERT T. AYRES III. Died Sept. 29, 2007. Ayres, 23, grew up in Los Osos. Ayres died in Baghdad of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire.

• ARMY SPC. MICHAEL G. MIHALAKIS. Died Dec. 26, 2003. Mihalakis, 18, died of injuries suffered in a noncombat Humvee accident at the Baghdad International Airport. He was a Cuesta College student and Camp San Luis Obispo soldier who attended Los Ranchos Elementary School in San Luis Obispo.

• ARMY SGT. MICHAEL W. MITCHELL. Died April 4, 2004. Mitchell, 25, was killed when his unit was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire in Baghdad. His father lives in Atascadero.

• ARMY PFC. MICHELANGELO A. MORA. Died May 14, 2004. Mora, 19, died when his vehicle slid off the road and turned over in Najaf, Iraq. His parents live in Arroyo Grande.

• ARMY 1ST LT. OSBALDO OROZCO. Died April 25, 2003. Orozco, 26, died when his vehicle, traveling through rough terrain, rolled over while responding to enemy fire. He was a Cal Poly football star who graduated in 2001.

• ARMY SGT. BRANDON A. PARR. Died March 3, 2007. Parr, 25, grew up in San Luis Obispo. He was killed in Baghdad when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

• ARMY STAFF SGT. DAVID S. PERRY. Died Aug. 10, 2003. Perry, 36, was killed when a suspicious package he was inspecting exploded in Baqubah, Iraq. Based at Camp San Luis Obispo, he was the first California National Guardsman to die during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

• ARMY SGT. CARL L. SEIGART. Died Feb. 14, 2007. Seigart, 32, was killed in Baqubah, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was a county native and graduated from Arroyo Grande High School. His mother lives in Arroyo Grande.

• ARMY 2ND LT. ANDRE D. TYSON. Died June 22, 2004. Tyson, 33, attended Cal Poly for two quarters in 1989 after graduating from Santa Maria High School the year before. Tyson was killed when he and another soldier, who had been patrolling and gathering intelligence, were ambushed by Iraqi insurgents near Balad, 85 miles north of Baghdad.

— Antonio A. Prado

The circumstances surrounding his death have not been released by military officials.

His father, Joe Toves of Grover Beach, declined to discuss his son’s death when reached Monday.

According to information Toves wrote in his My-Space.com profile, he joined the military in November 2006 and completed combat training and Military Occupational Specialty School, earning the rank of private first class. He was contracted to active duty until November 2010.

“My two-year goal is to survive deployment and be an upstanding Marine,” he wrote on his MySpace page.

“… I believe in doing my utmost to encounter, engage, capture or destroy any enemy troops, combatants, vessels, aircraft or any other thing which it is my duty.”

Toves was an Arroyo Grande High School graduate and was raised in the Five Cities area. He attended kindergarten at Grover Beach Elementary School and later attended Ocean View Elementary and Paulding Middle schools, both in Arroyo Grande.

Friends wrote messages on his MySpace page, expressing their grief and saying they would never forget the times they had shared with him.

According to his online profile, Toves aspired to continue his education by earning a master’s degree and was interested in a variety of fields, including neuroscience and bioengineering.

The Defense Department reported at least 500 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan following the U. S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to The Associated Press. Of those, the military reports 355 were killed by hostile action.