Joshua C. Watkins killed in combat

Marine Cpl. Joshua Watkins planned to come home from Iraq on Oct. 31, and his Jacksonville family dreamed of meeting him in a joyous reunion. They wanted to be at the base in North Carolina as he walked off the bus.

On Monday night, they changed their travel plans amid overwhelming grief. Their son was scheduled to arrive in Dover, Del., today. They wanted to be on the tarmac as his body was transported from the aircraft into a vehicle.

Watkins, 25, died Saturday after being shot in the stomach while on foot patrol in Fallujah. Military doctors struggled for four hours in attempts to save him, according to information provided to his mother, Amy Watkins-Vazquez.

"The hardest part for me is going to be to learn to live without him in my life," Watkins-Vazquez said. "Because he was everything to me. He was my life, and he was the joy of my heart. And I told him that since he was a baby, that he was the joy of my heart."

Watkins was assigned to the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., according to U.S. Department of Defense.

"He was supposed to come home next Tuesday, and instead we're going to bury him," Watkins-Vazquez said. "He's coming home, but not the way I want."

Watkins was born and raised in the Jacksonville area, like his mother before him. After graduating from Nease in 1999, he took classes at University of North Florida for three years, then joined the Marine Corps. He intended to become an officer, but he wanted to start as an enlisted man.

"He felt like that gave you better experience to lead other men," Watkins-Vazquez said.

He was on his second tour of Iraq and was promoted to corporal in the past 30 days. He became the leader of a Humvee crew and the soldiers inside it, she said. He had one more tour to go, and then he wanted to go to college to become an officer, she said.

The family members are handling the grief as well as they can, said his grandmother, Gail Tillis. She said the family was very close, and Watkins was their heart.

"He was tall and good-looking," Tillis said. "He had a beautiful, million-dollar smile."

His family takes pride in knowing that he believed in his mission. He had a great respect for the Marine Corps and felt it was an honor to become one and serve his country, Watkins-Vazquez said.

"He told me by phone not long ago that he and the Marines knew they were there for a reason," she said. "They would rather fight the fight there than to have anybody touch American soil. It was heartfelt. He loved his country."

From the Times Union