CPL Romulo “RJ” Jimenez

21, USMC

November 10 marks the passing CPL Romulo “RJ” Jimenez, USMC, 21, of Belington WV. We honor and remember RJ, his family, and his mother Alesia Harris Jimenez Swartz of Belington WV. 

RJ was born June 28th, 1983, and attended Philip Barbour High School until his senior year at which time he transferred to the South Dade Senior High School in Miami, Fla., where he graduated in 2001. He enlisted in the U.S. Marines Corps in 2001 and received his basic training at Camp Le Jeune, N.C.

Cpl. R.J. Jimenez was assigned to the 1st Battalion 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division Expeditionary Force. He was on his second tour in Iraq at the time of his death when killed by sniper fire in Fallujah Iraq on Nov 10th, 2004. He was 21 yrs old.

RJ liked to show off his tattoos, he had flames climbing up one of his arms. He also liked to talk to his fellow Marines about his 1992 Ford Mustang. In the days before the battle in Fallujah, RJ called his sister, Katherine, to ask that she fix up the interior of his Mustang before he got home. "Make it look real nice," he told her. RJ died Nov. 10 in a fire fight in the battle of Fallujah. 

RJ loved playing war games as a youngster and became an avid deer hunter during his upbringing in West Virginia. He enlisted in the Marines after graduating from high school in 2001. "You can tell by the way he would always wear (military) uniforms and loved guns that he was born to be a soldier," said his father, Romulo Jimenez Sr. Jimenez said his son came home between tours of duty, from November to June. He said he didn't talk much except to complain about the food in Iraq.

RJ is survived by his father Romulo Jimenez, of Oklahoma and his mother Alesia Harris Jimenez Swartz, of Belington WV. He is also survived by two sisters, Christina Harris and Alex Harris Evans, both of Belington; one half-sister, Sabrina Jimenez of Miami, Fla.; one half-brother, Romulo E. Jimenez of Lone Grove, Okla,; one brother-in-law, Lance Cpl. Sean Evans, who also served in Iraq; 

He received the Combat Action Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Ribbon, Naval Unit Citation, National Defense Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon for the Second Time. Most honorably. The Purple Heart will also be awarded to Cpl. Jimenez.

RJ was a Protestant by faith.

Gone but not forgotten.

Let us remember him, his family and always…

Say his name.

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