- Scott
Toms River man dies in Iraq
A Marine from Toms River who died Wednesday in Iraq had decided a month ago to forgo his discharge in April and extend his tour until September.
Cpl. Thomas Saba, 30, was one of seven Americans killed when a U.S. Marine transport helicopter crashed Wednesday in a field northwest of Baghdad.
“He was due to come home,” said his mother, Barbara, as she and her husband, Tony, waited Thursday to return from vacation in Florida to their Toms River home. “He didn't have to go to Iraq. He chose to go. He wanted to be with his brothers.”
Marine Corps officials said it appeared the helicopter's pilot was trying to make a quick landing of the 30-year-old CH-46 Sea Knight and lost control of the burning helicopter as it descended near Fallujah in Anbar province.
Witnesses said they saw no signs that the aircraft was involved in hostile fire, but an Iraqi air force officer said the helicopter was brought down by an anti-aircraft missile, The Associated Press reported. An al-Qaida-linked group, the Islamic State in Iraq, claimed in a statement posted on an extremist Web site that it shot down the helicopter. The other servicemembers killed included four Marines and two Navy personnel. Saba moved with his family to Toms River in the late 1990s. He made a five-year commitment to the Marines shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, enlisting April 21, 2002. For most of the time leading up to his Iraq deployment, Saba was assigned to the Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 262, The Flying Tigers, in Okinawa, Japan. The January deployment to Iraq was the first combat deployment of the squadron since the Vietnam War. Tony and Barbara Saba, who are retired, rented a home in Vero Beach, Fla., for February. They were in a movie theater in Vero Beach when they got a phone call with the news. “We had been aware that a helicopter went down,” Barbara Saba said. “We were just hoping it wasn't him.” They last spoke with their son Saturday, when he called to check on them after tornadoes tore through central Florida on Feb. 2, killing 20 people. He last visited them in Toms River during Christmas. Barbara Saba described her son as a “very, very loyal American,” who decided he would give anything for his country after the 2001 terrorist attacks. “He was very, very patriotic,” she said. “He was a Marine through and through. He didn't want to hear any criticisms of (President) Bush.” Whenever asked about the war, he would emphasize the need to defend America, his father said. “He said, ‘What do you think I went in for?'” Tony Saba said. Sonja Debs, Saba's aunt and godmother, said she cried through the night after learning of his death at 5:20 p.m. Wednesday. “It hurts,” said Debs, of Staten Island. “We used to enjoy going to Applebee's to have a meal together” whenever Saba was on leave. The 82-year-old said she frequently sent him e-mails, most recently Saturday. “We're a very close-knit family,” she said. The wife of World War II Army veteran Victor Debs, who died in 2004, Sonja Debs said she failed to dissuade her nephew from going to Iraq. ¶ “It was something he wanted to do. He said, ‘Do you want 9-11 to happen again? I'm going to fight for my country,'” she said. “There is a God and we cannot choose what is deemed for us. You don't know how much I'm going to miss him.” Other than his parents, Saba is survived by his brother, Anthony, and his two sisters, Mary Ellen Ditchkus and Laura Saba. Barbara Saba said she expects her son's body to be flown to New York sometime next week. She said he will be buried either in Moravian Cemetery, on Staten Island, or Arlington National Cemetery. Arrangements had not been finalized as of Thursday. Reporting done by Glenn Nyback, Staten Island Advance
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