Hometown: Trenton, FL
Branch: U.S. Marine Corps
Unit: 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina
Military Honors: Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: August 18, 2004 - KIA in Al Anbar province, Iraq
Age: 24
Conflict: Iraq War, 2003-2011

“Ricky” Lord’s mother, Karen Latham, said that her son dreamed of serving in the U.S. military from the time he was a boy. She told the Gainesville Sun, “He would come home after school and put on his G.I. Joe outfit and climb up in a tree and ask me if I could still see him” in his camouflage uniform.

Lord graduated from Trenton High School (Florida) in 1998 and immediately enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He was sent to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina for basic training.

For his first assignment, Lord was sent to the Marine Corps base at Twentynine Palms, California. There he was trained for his Military Occupational Specialty as a Field Wireman, responsible for connecting and maintaining essential systems of communication.

Sgt. Lord’s time as a Marine allowed him to see the world. Family members recall that he’d get a tattoo as a souvenir from each place he was sent. One of his favorite stations was Okinawa, Japan. While there, Lord treated his older sister, Kimberly, by paying for her to make a six-day visit.

Intending to be a career Marine, in 2002 he re-enlisted as an Anti-Tank Missile Gunner and was trained at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina on TOW missile systems (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wireless-guided).

According to his fiancée, Rosanna Powers, Lord was assigned to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Force, and from March to November of 2003 served aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7).

After his time on the Iwo Jima, Lord was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Camp Lejeune. He attended Ranger school at Fort Benning, Georgia, but his time there was cut short when his unit deployed to Iraq in June 2004, as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

His unit was stationed in Falluja, Iraq. By this time, Sgt. Richard Lord was in his second 4-year enlistment and decided it would be his last—preferring to spend more time with his growing family at the end of his tour.

Sgt. Lord’s fiancée, Rosanna, recalls that her brother, LCpl. Caleb Powers was also stationed in Falluja at the time. Ricky Lord hadn’t yet met him but told Rosanna that he thought he knew where to find him. He’d be meeting his future brother-in-law soon.

The two men would never meet. Rosanna Powers would bear the loss of both men within a day of each other. On August 17, 2004, LCpl. Caleb Powers was struck by a sniper’s bullet. A day later, on August 18, Sgt. Richard Lord was lost in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq’s Al Anbar province.

Sgt. Lord was 24 years old and left behind his fiancée, Rosanna, a two-year-old son, Richard Murle “Flash” Lord, and a 10-month-old son, Brody Lord. In August, 2010, Gilchrist County, Florida, dedicated a section of highway as “Sergeant Ricky Lord Road” in his honor.

Sources
Details and card photo (digitally enhanced) submitted by Rosanna Powers, Sgt. Lord’s fiancée.
The Gainesville Sun, August 21, 2004: Trenton High graduate is killed in Iraq
Ocala StarBanner, August 29, 2004: Marine’s loss honored
Military Times—Honor the Fallen: Marine Sgt. Richard M. Lord
WPTV West Palm Beach: Gold Star Family member finds unique way to honor her fallen family
The Gainsville Sun, August 18, 2010: Road to be designated in honor of fallen Marine
AL.com Birmingham, via Legacy.com: Sgt. Richard M. Lord
Burial Site: Find a Grave

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