Hometown holds vigil for Marine killed in Kabul suicide bombing

August 31, 2021 12:00 am • Last Updated: August 31, 2021 11:12 pm

This May 29, 2021, photo released by the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade/U.S. Marines shows fallen Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Mass. Eleven Marines, one Navy sailor and one Army soldier were among the dead, while 18 other U.S. service members were wounded in the Thursday Aug. 26, bombing at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, which was blamed on Afghanistan's offshoot of the Islamic State group. (Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/U.S. Marines via AP)

LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) — A U.S. Marine who was among 13 killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan was honored Tuesday evening in her hometown.

Officials in Lawrence, Mass., held a vigil with Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo's family at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Rosario, 25, died in the Aug. 26 bombing at the Kabul airport, where people were being evacuated amid the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. A dozen other U.S. service members and 169 Afghans were killed.

Dozens attended a separate vigil in Rosario’s memory last weekend in Boston that was hosted by Massachusetts Fallen Heroes, an organization founded by veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rosario, who was of Dominican origin, served with the Naval Amphibious Force, Task Force 51/5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

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