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RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA—A little more than a year ago, in August 2021, 11 United States Marines, a Fleet Marine Force Navy corpsman and a United States Army soldier, and more than 90 Afghans lost their lives during a suicide bombing attack at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan as people tried to flee the Taliban takeover. One of the U.S. troops who lost their lives in performance of their duty was 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Merola, who grew up in Rancho Cucamonga and attended Los Osos High School. Reports of his burial stated that speakers remembered him as “larger than life, a man who was mature beyond his years” and a young man with a huge smile.
On Friday, October 28, family members, friends, and Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-Highland) gathered together to remember the young Marine’s life and celebrate passage of ACR 139 which will honor his sacrifice by renaming the Haven Avenue overcrossing on Interstate 210 in San Bernardino County in his memory. It is an overcrossing his family frequently travels.
Merola joined the Marines after graduation in 2019 although he officially committed to joining the service branch in 2018. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division Expeditionary Force out of Camp Pendleton. Merola was deployed in Kabul for less than two weeks before the tragic attack that took his life at the Hamid Karazai International Airport. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
