ALIGANGA-JESSE

KILLED IN  U.S. EMBASSY ATTACK

Jesse Nathanael Aliganga was a Marine Security Guard who was killed in the terrorist truck bombing attack on the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, on August 7, 1998.  The bombing was simultaneous with a second suicide bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  The twin attacks killed 224 people and wounded over 4,000.  SGT Aliganga was the only Marine among the twelve victims of the Kenya attack.  The attacks were later determined to have been conducted by the al-Qaeda network and ordered by Osama bin Laden.

SGT Aliganga was born in Oakland, California, but grew up in Pensacola, Florida, before enlisting in the Marine Corps in January 1995.  He attended recruit training at Parris Island, South Carolina, and was next trained as a communication specialist at the Marine Air Ground Combat Center in 29 Palms, California, and at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.  He was then stationed with the 3^rd Marine Division in Okinawa, followed by service with 1^st Force Service Support Group, 1^st Landing Support Battalion, H&S Company, Communications Platoon, at Camp Pendleton, California.

In January 1998, SGT Aliganga received orders to the Marine Security Guard School in Quantico, Virginia and upon completion of training was assigned in February 1998 to the U.S. Embassy where he worked until his death.  Friends and associates concurred in the opinion that SGT Aliganga was not big in stature, but that he had a big heart.  After his death his mother said, “He was so proud to be a Marine as it was something he was bound and determined to do.”  SGT Aliganga has been laid to final rest at Arlington National Cemetery and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)