YAKIMA– The foster father of a Marine lance corporal who grew up mainly in White Swan, Wash., says Joe Jackson was fatally injured last weekend in Afghanistan when an improvised explosive device detonated.
Talking about Jackson on Monday, Shawn Marceau called the 22-year-old “a stellar Marine son” and “my best friend.”
Jackson was a Gila River tribal member who was mostly raised on the Yakama reservation.
The Yakima Herald-Republic says military officials say Jackson was following another Marine who was carrying a mine detector on a steep slope when the young man’s foot slipped outside the detected area and a bomb exploded. He was the only one struck. He was pronounced dead an hour later at a hospital.
