Corporal Robert Marcus Rodriguez (1982 – 2003) was born in Brooklyn, and grew up on 59th Drive in Maspeth, Queens. In 1999 after graduating from high school he joined the Marine Corps at the age of 17. He was deployed to Kuwait in January 2003 and assigned to the Marine First Tank Division, Air/Ground Combat Unit. On March 25, 2003, the tank in which he traveled with three other marines, fell under heavy artillery fire and was forced off a bridge into the Euphrates River. All four men in the tank were killed, Corporal Rodriguez was 21 years old.