Nicholas D. Paradarodriguez – Corporal, United States Marine Corps

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 406-10
May 18, 2010

DOD Identifies Marine Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Corpora Nicholas D. Paradarodriguez, 29, of Stafford, Virginia, died May 16, 2010, while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.  He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

For additional background information on this Marine, news media representatives may contact the II Marine Division public affairs office at 910-450-6575.


Marine Cpl. Nicolas Parada-Rodriguez is memorialized at Arlington National Cemetery
By Christy Goodman
Courtesy of The Washington Post
Friday, May 28, 2010

The U.S. Marines fired three rifle volleys. A bugler played taps.

Luisa Paradarrodriguez placed a heavy hand on the American flag presented to her by Sergeant Major Eric J. Stockton on Thursday. When her son Lisandro accepted another flag from Stockton, she grabbed his hand and held on.

Her younger son and Lisandro’s brother, Marine Corporal Nicolas D. Paradarodriguez, 29, was being buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

About 150 friends and family members took part in the last burial in Section 60 on Thursday before soldiers began placing flags on every grave in honor of Memorial Day.

Paradarodriguez, of Stafford, died May 16 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan, the Pentagon said. It was his second tour in Afghanistan with the Marines.

He was a team leader assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 7, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Before joining the Marines, Paradarodriguez was in the Navy, his sister Norma said in an article published in the Washington Post on May 19. He briefly held a civilian job before joining the Marines in January 2007, she said.

“He said he just liked defending his country,” she said in the earlier interview. “He wanted to do something that people would remember him for.”

His family described him as bighearted, family-oriented and always striving to be a leader.

Guy Krikorian and his wife, both of Southern California, flew across the country to attend Paradarodriguez’s service and to show their appreciation to his family. The parents of one of his friends, they wanted to let the corporal’s family know “how much he meant to us and how sorry we are and we appreciate what he was doing for us,” Krikorian said.

Lance Corporal Andrew Krikorian, Krikorian’s son, was transferred to Camp Lejeune, where Paradarodriguez helped him with the transition into a new base. In Afghanistan, Parada-Rodriguez served as the younger Krikorian’s team leader.

“We looked at it from the standpoint of his family and what he meant to Andy,” Krikorian said. “It would mean the world if somebody would be able to express something about our son” in a similar situation, he said.

The Krikorian family was able to meet Paradarrriguez one night last summer when he visited their home, and they found him to be a “very nice man” who could enjoy a good laugh, Krikorian said.

Paradarodriguez and his family moved to the United States from El Salvador when he was a child. They settled in Springfield, where Paradarodriguez graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in 1999.

In addition to his mother, sister and brother, survivors include his wife, Shada; another sister, Maria; and several nieces and nephews.

Arlington Burial Afghanistan
A caisson carries the coffin containing the remains of Marine Corporal Nicholas Paradarodriguez, during a burial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Thursday, May 27, 2010
Shada Parada Rodriguez, Lusia Parada Rodriguez
Widow Shada Parada Rodriguez, right, and mother Lusia Paradarodriguez, second from right, of Marine Corporal Nicholas Parada Rodriguez watch the coffin containing the remains of Corporal Parada Rodriguez during a burial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery Thursday, May 27, 2010
ndparadarodriguez-funeral-services-photo-001
Shada Paradarodriguez, center, mourns at her husband Marine Corporal Nicolas Paradarodriguez’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.

PARADARODRIGUEZ, NICOLAS DIMAS

  • CPL   US MARINE CORPS
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 07/12/1980
  • DATE OF DEATH: 05/16/2010
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 9158
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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