Neighborhood remembers fallen Marine

A crowd of about 50 people gathered on a raw December Saturday in the Waldheim section of Flushing, to dedicate a public memorial to a young Marine who made the ultimate sacrifice for his new country.
On Saturday, December 13, a throng of neighbors, friends and family gathered at the corner of Kissena Boulevard and 45th Avenue to commemorate the street sign naming the block “Corporal Julian Alberto Ramon Avenue.”
With them was a color guard and a cohort of current and former Marines - among those who served with fidelity, there are no “ex” Marines - and elected officials, all of whom braved a bitter winds to pay tribute.
Corporal Julian A. Ramon, who lived at 137-60 45th Avenue in Flushing, died in the explosion of an Improvised Explosive Device, during combat operations in Ramadi, the capital of Al Anbar Province, Iraq, on July 20, 2006, at the age of 22.
It was his second combat tour; he was two months away from coming home. He is survived by his parents, Julio and Yolanda Ramon and younger brothers Sebastian and Juan.
The Ramon family emigrated from Columbia when Julian was four-years-old. They settled on 45th Avenue, between Kissena Boulevard and Colden Street, another thread in the ethnic tapestry of Flushing.
A John Bowne High School graduate, Ramon garnered the nickname “Razor” because he was “sharp.”
Proud to be both Columbian and an American, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps shortly after getting his diploma. He died on Colombia’s Independence Day.
Once a hotbed of insurgency that claimed nearly one fourth of all U.S. dead in Iraq, Anbar - its westernmost province - has become relatively peaceful. Control of the province was handed over to Iraqi forces on September 1 of this year.
Half a world away, on September 24, Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed the bill renaming the avenue in front of Ramon’s childhood home in his honor.