Obituary

Obituary

Marine Sgt. Michael E. Bitz

Died March 23, 2003 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

31, of Ventura, Calif.; assigned to 2nd Assault Amphibious Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; killed in action near Nasiriyah, Iraq.

Sgt. Michael E. Bitz, 31, died without ever having seen his youngest children, twins born one month ago after he was dispatched to the Persian Gulf.

Bitz was an adventurer who found his life’s path when he joined the Marines in 1995, his mother, Donna Bellman said. And according to his mother-in-law, reached at Bitz’s North Carolina home, the father of four was “a damn good dad.”

In addition to the twins, Bitz also had two sons, Christian, 7, and Joshua, 2.

Bitz and his wife, Janina, lived in Jacksonville, N.C., but he grew up in Ventura, Calif., and graduated from Hueneme High School in Oxnard in 1990.

He wasn’t involved in any clubs or teams but earned good grades, said Joel Lovstedt, Hueneme’s assistant principal. He was a “regular guy, and it looks like he was a good student,” he said.

After graduation, Bitz drifted from job to job, got married, had his son Christian and later divorced. His mother says she told him to consider the military in order to focus his life.

“The Marines did a wonderful thing for him,” Bitz’s mother said. “I don’t regret him joining. I regret that he was killed, but I don’t regret that he joined the military. That basically was the best thing for him to do.”

— Associated Press