Marc Retmier Tribute

A Navy hospitalman from Hemet died in an attack in Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Marc A. Retmier, 19, was assigned to the Provincial Reconstruction Team Sharana in Afghanistan, according to a Department of Defense news release.

He and Petty Officer First Class Ross L. Toles III, 37, of Michigan, died from wounds suffered in an enemy rocket attack in northern Paktika province in Afghanistan, the release stated.

He graduated from West Valley High School, where he played football and lettered in swimming, said his uncle Jeff Retmier, a captain with the Hemet Fire Department.

He was stationed at Camp Lejuene in North Carolina and trained at Bethesda Hospital. He went to Afghanistan in December 2007, Jeff Retmier said.

Jeff Retmier said his nephew wanted to work in medicine and knew being a medic would prepare him for that.

The family plans to bury Retmier at Pacific View Cemetery in Corona del Mar where his namesake uncle was buried after he died serving in the Navy a few weeks before turning 19 in 1975.

The San Jacinto Valley has had several military casualties during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Retmier is the eleventh man with ties to the San Jacinto Valley to be killed in those conflicts. An Aguanga man has also died.