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| - The 11 service members — some of whom were in the Marines, while others served in the Army — included on a list that circulated online in March 2026 actually died in Afghanistan in July 2010. At the time of this writing, 13 U.S. service members had been killed in action since the start of the U.S.-Israeli Operation Epic Fury against Iran on Feb. 28, 2026. None of the fallen service members were Marines, according to the Department of Defense.
In late March 2026, a claim (archived) circulated online that listed the names of 11 U.S. Marines who allegedly "gave their lives this week."
The list circulated amid the ongoing war in the Middle East following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that began on Feb. 28, 2026. At the time of this writing, NPR reported that an estimated 1,200-plus civilians in Iran and other Gulf countries and 13 U.S. service members had died during the conflict.
One posting of the list of names in a Facebook group read:
R.I.P. Justin Allen 23, Brett Linley 29, Matthew Weikert 29, Justus Bartett 27, Dave Santos 21, Jesse Reed 26, Matthew Johnson 21, Zachary Fisher 24, Brandon King 23, Christopher Goeke 23, and Sheldon Tate 27.... All are Marines who gave their lives this week for us ....for our freedom! There's no media for them at all... not even a mention of their names. Please honor them by copying and pasting this post.R.I.P.
It is the least we can do. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
(Facebook user Pennie Whitman)
The list circulated across several Facebook groups (archived, archived, archived, archived). Snopes readers wrote in to ask if the list named U.S. Marines who died in March 2026.
The list did not name U.S. Marines who died in March 2026. Rather, the service members named in the list died in Afghanistan in July 2010. Some were Marines while others served in the Army. The same list previously circulated online in 2018.
While more than a dozen service members lost their lives since the start of the war against Iran, o
Here's what we know about the 11 service members named in the list circulating online:
Justin Bradley Allen was 23 years old when he died on July 18, 2010. According to his obituary, he was a Ranger in the U.S. Army.
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Brett George Linley was 29 years old when he died on July 18, 2010, in an explosion during a counter-IED operation in Afghanistan's Helmand province, according to the United Kingdom government. Linley, who was British, was a staff sergeant in the U.K. Royal Logistic Corps.
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Matthew Weikert was 29 years old when he died on July 17, 2010, while serving with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. Weikert was a former Marine who served four tours in Iraq before Afghanistan, according to his obituary.
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Justus S. Bartelt (not Bartett, as online posts claimed), was 27 years old when he died in Afghanistan's Helmand province on July 16, 2010, according to his obituary. Bartelt was one of two Marines on the list that circulated online in March 2026.
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Dave M. Santos was 21 years old when he died in Afghanistan's Helmand province on July 16, 2010, according to the Fallen Heroes Project website. Santos was also a Marine and served with Bartelt.
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Jesse D. Reed was 26 years old when he died of injuries sustained during an IED attack on July 14, 2010, according to a local news report. Reed was a specialist in the U.S. Army.
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Matthew James Johnson was 21 years old when he died in Afghanistan's Zabul province on July 14, 2010, according to his obituary. He was a specialist in the U.S. Army.
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Zachary M. Fisher was a 24-year-old U.S. Army Sergeant who died of injuries sustained in an IED attack on July 14, 2010. According to Honor the Fallen, a website that tracks U.S. conflict casualties, Fisher, Reed, Johnson and another U.S. Army Specialist named Chase Stanley all died following the same IED attack on July 14.
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Brandon M. King was 23 years old when he died on July 14, 2010. Honor the Fallen reported that insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire. King was a Private First Class in the U.S. Army.
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Christopher Shultz Goeke was a 23-year-old Lieutenant in the U.S. Army when he died in battle in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on July 13, 2010 , according to his obituary and Honor the Fallen. An NPR journalist who met Goeke months before his death produced an audio memorial in 2021 about the young soldier, where friends and family said he had an "unquenchable need to learn" and a love of debate.
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Sheldon Tate was 27 years old and a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army when he died on July 13, 2010. According to his obituary, Tate died from wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit.
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Snopes' archives contributed to this report.
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