Vigil planned for slain US Marine in her home city

August 31, 2021 12:00 am • Last Updated: August 31, 2021 9:59 am

This May 29, 2021 photo released by the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade/U.S. Marines shows fallen Marine Corps 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. — Officials in the Massachusetts hometown of a U.S. Marine who was among 13 killed in last week's suicide bombing at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, are working with her family on a public tribute.

The city of Lawrence said a 7 p.m. Tuesday vigil was planned at Veterans Memorial Stadium to honor Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo.

Johanny, 25, died in the Aug. 26 bombing at the 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.

Lawrence is about 30 miles north of Boston, not far from the New Hampshire state line.

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