November 11, 1983 – June 22, 2006

Just like many, many of the bio’s we read of our brave servicemen and women, Riley was a great guy. He was a natural leader who always had a smile on his face and wanted everyone else to be happy as well. He was an avid hunter and he liked to fish. He was an amazing competitor as witnessed by his the award of first state wrestling champion at Eureka High school in 2002. He was also elected first string middle linebacker in the same year. Riley wasn’t a large man-5’6” but he had all the heart it takes to get the job done. He loved his family and had many friends who considered him their best friend. He also loved the Missouri forests and rivers and bragged constantly about how beautiful our state is.

He went into the Marines because he didn’t’ want anyone fighting for him-truly to defend our country and protect his family. Riley proudly served our country as a United States Marine. He was the “honor man” of his boot camp platoon and second in the company at Parris island, SC. He was in Iraq for two tours, the first tour was 2005, served in Fallujah, the second was 2006 in Al Anbar Province, Ramadi. He was the team leader for team two of the Scout Sniper Platoon attached to H & S Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, NC.

Riley and his team of 5 Marines and 1 Navy Corpsman were being attacked, he lead his men out of the building to meet an extraction team and was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device. He was a leader and extremely well liked. His loss was quite a blow to the Scout Sniper Platoon. Two weeks after his death, another member of the platoon was killed, out of 28 men, two didn’t come home alive. They were in Ramadi at the beginning of the insurgent stronghold and helped to make the province safer eventually. He was already in the process of receiving the Bronze Star when he was killed, we received it after he was killed.