Flintridge Prep standout dies in Iraq
J.P. Blecksmith, 24, '99 graduate of Flintridge Preparatory School, was part of U.S. military campaign in Fallouja.
By Ryan Carter
News-Press and Leader

November 13, 2004

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — Edward Blecksmith knows war. As a Marine during the Vietnam War, he saw the carnage. But he never knew a day like Thursday.

That was the day — Veterans Day — when he and his family found out that his son, J.P. Blecksmith, was killed in Iraq.

Blecksmith, 24, a 1999 graduate and former standout quarterback at Flintridge Preparatory School in La Cañada Flintridge, was killed Thursday afternoon during a military operation in Fallouja, Iraq, his father said.

Blecksmith, a 2nd lieutenant in the Marine Corps and a platoon commander, was apparently in an area of the besieged city to clear out pockets of insurgents when he was shot from behind, his father said.

"Somebody got behind his platoon," Edward Blecksmith said. "He was moving the platoon and barking commands. [The insurgents] got behind him and shot him in the back."

Blecksmith was part of a U.S. military campaign, in conjunction with Iraqi forces, that began five days ago to take control of Fallouja, which has been a bastion of persistent insurgent violence in Iraq.

On Friday, a devastated family and community were still absorbing the shock of the news.

"I've got a hole in my stomach," Edward Blecksmith said from the family home in San Marino. "He'll never be home again."

By all accounts, Blecksmith was a leader who left an impression on his school, friends and family as big as his 6-foot-3-inch frame.

He graduated from Flintridge Preparatory in 1999, after a standout career as the quarterback for the school's football team. He also ran track. He had an arm that could throw 60-yard passes, but earned SAT scores that allowed him to choose if he wanted to go Ivy League schools, his father said. But Blecksmith chose the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., which he graduated from in 2003, and soon after became a Marine. He had been in Iraq for two months and in the Marines for more than a year.

"There is no way to tie a bow on this, but this was the life he imagined for himself and worked to achieve," said Flintridge Preparatory Headmaster Peter Bachmann said. "I think we can admire the fact that he walked the talk and that he lived the life he believed was the proper life for him. He believed serving his country was his highest calling."

In a Sept. 28, 2001, article in the Glendale News-Press, Blecksmith's commitment was clear as he spoke about the attacks of Sept. 11: "I can't ever forget what I saw on the TV screen," he said. "I don't think anyone can. It felt like I was watching a movie. If it means going to war for those people [that died], I'm willing to do that."

The Flintridge Prep student body was informed of Blecksmith's death Friday during an announcement at the end of an assembly. A moment of silence was offered in his memory, Bachmann said.

"For many of [the students] this is the first time that the war has come home to them, and I think they are still absorbing the shock," Bachmann said.

Those broken up from the news included his former coaches, who were in mourning Friday as they prepared for the team's season finale against Webb High School in Claremont.

Bachmann said the school is planning to establish a memorial scholarship in Blecksmith's name.

Edward Blecksmith last communicated with his son through an e-mail Monday.

"I think he was pensive," Edward Blacksmith said. "That's not atypical of young men [going into battle] for the first time. It's understandable."

On Friday, J.P. Blecksmith's older brother, Alex, reflected on the man he called his hero.

"I just feel he was too good a person to not be on this earth," he said. "I'm his older brother, but … he left me some pretty big shoes to fill."

And a sad father spoke in a shaking voice about his worst day. He'd though he'd seen the worst he could see when his own Marine platoon took the brunt of an attack in Vietnam. The aftermath of that attack was devastating, he said.

"I'd always viewed it as the worst day of my life," he said. "Losing J.P. is 10 times worse."

J.P. Blecksmith is survived by his parents, Pam and Edward; brother Alex, 25; and sister, Christina, 27. Funeral services are being arranged.

Pasadena Star-News

San Marino Marine, 24, killed in action in Iraq
By Gretchen Hoffman
Staff Writer

Saturday, November 13, 2004 - SAN MARINO -- A San Marino man and 1999 Flintridge Preparatory School graduate has been killed in action in Al Anbar Province, two months after he was deployed to Iraq.

Second Lt. James P. Blecksmith, or JP to everyone who knew him, was killed Thursday by enemy action in the province that includes the city of Fallujah. He was 24.

Family members believe he was hit by a sniper's bullet just outside the left shoulder of his flack jacket, and either the bullet or a shard of bone punctured his heart.

Blecksmith had soldiering in his blood. His father, longtime San Marino resident Ed Blecksmith, was in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. As a boy, Blecksmith would dig out his father's old jungle utilities, dress himself for battle and dig a hole in a vacant lot next door to the home they lived in in Seattle for about five years.

"He'd dig a hole and play soldier,' his father said. "(But) I never pushed him to be a Marine.'

JP Blecksmith was the youngest of three children. He played football at Flintridge Prep - quarterback - and ran track, making it to the CIF finals in about 10 events during high school, his father said.

He was a peer counselor at Flintridge Prep and it wasn't uncommon for him to take younger students under his wing, even if it was just to toss a football around with them, his father said.

Blecksmith was athletic and intelligent, with good SAT scores, and he was recruited by the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., his father said. There, he continued his football career, playing wide receiver for the Navy Midshipmen.

"He did everything that a father could ever want or ask of a son,' Ed Blecksmith said.

JP Blecksmith was 6-foot-3, and about 220 pounds after he went into the Marines. His father described him as compassionate, a "good-looking kid,' with a good sense of humor.

"He always had time for people,' Ed Blecksmith said. "He was a tough kid, to do what he did, but he also had a loving side. He knew when to be a tough guy and when to be a real gentleman.'

JP Blecksmith was commissioned as an officer in May 2003 and started his training at the Marine Corps Base Quantico, in Virginia. He returned to California, and to Camp Pendleton, this spring.

After four more months of training, he was deployed to Iraq on Sept. 10. His family was notified Thursday night - Veterans Day - that he had been killed.

"It was devastating,' Blecksmith said. "I can't describe the emptiness I feel, the hurt I feel, the pain I feel, as does my wife.'

The family last spoke to him by phone two weeks ago and by e-mail shortly thereafter.

"I think he was a little pensive and that's understandable,' Ed Blecksmith said. "He'd been in firefights but never heavy combat.'

His father said hundreds of people have stopped by the family's San Marino home since Thursday.

"I think the thing I'll miss most is his antics,' his father said, referring to last Christmas, when JP came downstairs dressed as Saddam Hussein with pieces of an old Halloween wig stuck to his face. "He loved doing silly things.'

He is survived by his parents, Pam and Ed; sister, Christina, 27; and brother, Alex, 25. Funeral services are being arranged.

Services set Saturday for Marine killed in Iraq

SAN GABRIEL -- Services will be held Saturday for San Marino native and 1999 Flintridge Preparatory School graduate J.P. Blecksmith, a Marine who was killed Nov. 11 in Iraq.

The service is at 1 p.m. Saturday at Church of Our Savior, 535 W. Roses Road in San Gabriel.

A memorial fund has been set up in Blecksmith's honor at Flintridge Preparatory School, which can be reached at (818) 790-1178.

REMEMBERING A FALLEN LEADER
'He was always a hero to us'
J.P. Blecksmith remembered as the ultimate leader by his friends and coaches at Flintridge Prep

November 18, 2004

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — To the Flintridge Prep community, James Patrick Blecksmith — better known as J.P. — was a hero long before he put his life on the line for his country.

As the story goes, Blecksmith was on the school's senior trip at the Kern River, when tragedy almost struck.

Blecksmith and several of his friends were whitewater rafting when Ross Fippinger — a Rebel linebacker and a close friend of Blecksmith's since seventh grade — fell into the water and got caught in the current.

"It was the time of year when the water was really high, and the other people in the boat were sort of petrified, not knowing really what to do," said Tom Fry, who was an assistant coach on the Rebel football team when Blecksmith was a standout quarterback, earning first-team All-CIF honors in 1997 and 1998.

"But J.P., without any hesitation, he bounced over to the other side of the boat, reached with one arm and pulled Ross out by his life jacket."

"That's just one of the many times he's been there for me," said Fippinger, trying his best to hold back tears. "He was always there for me."

As Blecksmith's high school football coach Glen Beattie put it, "that was just J.P. being J.P. Everybody looked up to him. He fit the mold of a leader."

Which is why after graduating from the Naval Academy with a bachelor's degree in economics in 2003, Blecksmith enrolled in the U.S. Marine Corps.

"He wanted to lead his own troops," Flintridge Prep Athletic Director Alex Rivera said. "He wanted to be a leader. He was always a leader."

Blecksmith, who played linebacker and wide receiver for the Navy football team after graduating from Flintridge Prep in 1999, was a 2nd lieutenant and a platoon commander of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.

On Veterans Day, Nov. 11, Blecksmith was killed during a military operation in Fallouja, Iraq. He was 24 years old, having celebrated his birthday Sept. 26.

Since his death, those that knew him at Flintridge Prep have had a difficult time accepting the fact that Blecksmith is gone.

Their only comfort is the memories and stories they share of the 6-foot-3, 220-pounder, who was also a CIF-caliber sprinter and a peer counselor for middle school students.

"He died as a hero, but he was always a hero to us," Fry said. "That's the way he lived. That's the way he saw himself.

"When he set a goal, he was relentless in achieving it. If there was somebody who was going to accomplish something really great, he was going to be one of those people."

Said current Rebel football Coach Marty Konrad, who began his tenure as an assistant with the Rebels during Blecksmith's senior year: "He's one of those guys that we still talk about to this day, that's the type of impact he had at this school."

Peter Twist, who was Blecksmith's favorite target at wide receiver and had been best friends with Blecksmith since the two were in pre-school, remembered Blecksmith as someone with a great sense of humor.

"For the last couple of months while he was in Iraq, we exchanged some e-mails, and it was typical J.P. lighthearted stuff," Twist said. "Around his birthday, he was joking around about inviting us over to have a Fallouja Fiesta, as he called it.

"He liked to kid around and have fun."

But Blecksmith also had his serious side.

"He loved people and he loved his country," Twist said. "As long as I can remember, he was gung-ho about being a marine and a soldier. He wanted to protect people, and he firmly believed in what he was doing.

"The way he died, it's very tragic, but he was doing what he was born to do."

That still doesn't make dealing with his death any easier for those around him.

"He was probably the greatest person anyone could ever know," Twist said. "It's just not right that he was taken from us."

Those wishing to honor JP, may make a gift to:
The JP Blecksmith Memorial Scholarship Fun
Flintridge Preparatory School
4543 Crown Avenue
La Canada-Flintridge, CA 91011

Ive protested this war with you, Ive donated money, ive worked hard to get Kerry in office, I understand that Bush is going to get us all killed. IVE SACRIFICED in the name of freedom. I support OUR cause. I'm also a former US Marine.
BUT AFTER the comical "incident" with the LAV's asking for directions to the Westwood VA, and reading the INSANE attacks on the Marines in your posts, your absolute giddy "panic" in your posts about these LAV's has made me see the light. YOU PEOPLE ARE FUCKING ASSHOLES.
You jumped to conclusions, you ignored reality, you WANTED soooo bad for these vehicles to be there FOR YOU. YOU WERE DISAPOINTED WHEN YOU REALIZED THEY WERENT.
Some of the posts I read, made me realize that you are absolutely irresponsible in your hysteria. THE ENTIRE REASON, THAT YOU HAVE THE FREEDOM TO PROTEST, TO DEMONSTRATE, IS DUE TO OUR MILITARY. ITS NOT THEM, THATS AT FAULT FOR HOW OUR INEPT GOVT USES THEM. LIKE YOU, THESE GOOD MEN AND WOMEN LOVE OUR COUNTRY. THEY WILL DIE, TO PROTECT YOU, AND YOUR RIGHTS IF NEEDED.
Im sorry, and Im sad to say, that I will not be a part of ANYTHING to do with you people and the likes of you. I will continue our struggle to ensure our freedom as Americans. I will continue the fight for a better world, for a better Los Angeles, for a better environment. I will do it without you and your kind.
You people are pathetic political slaves. You allow your selves to be used by the save machine that you despise. It shows. GET A CLUE CHILDREN.

DISSENT = DEMOCRACY