Fallen Naples Marine honored in ceremony on Lovers Key

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. — Several U.S. Marines who flew in from Okinawa, Japan, were among the dozens gathered to honor the life of U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Austin Ruiz on Sunday afternoon at Lovers Key State Park.

Ruiz, a Naples High School graduate, was killed Jan. 13 in a live-fire exercise at the 29 Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California. It was an accidental death, the combat center said.

Ruiz, whose home base was in Okinawa, won several medals and awards during his career, including the National Defense Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Medal.

His remains were returned to his family Friday.

Sunday’s full military service featured a gun salute and a presentation of a folded American flag for Ruiz’s parents. Friends and family members, many wearing Hawaiian shirts, carried roses.

Staff Sgt. Yobany Flores helped conduct the service.

“It’s a big honor for us to be able to remember him and give him that honor to send him off that way,” Flores said.

Ruiz will be deeply missed, said Pfc. Lully Dominguez, a friend and fellow Marine.

“He just always wanted somebody to be happy,” Dominguez said. “If he knew you were having a bad day, he made sure to make it better.”

Ruiz and Dominguez, who were friends from the time they were 6 years old, went into the Marines together. He was frequently a motivating force for her, she recalled, but he didn’t always keep a straight face.

“No matter what, he was always there, and he had this goofy look to him all the time,” Dominguez said. “He was something else, truly something else.”