Sadness...

LAPD remembers Staff Sgt. Joshua Cullins of Simi Valley, killed in Afghanistan
Daily News Wire Services
Posted: 10/20/2010 11:30:09 AM PDT
Updated: 10/20/2010 11:32:02 AM PDT


The Los Angeles Police Department today is mourning a 28-year-old Marine Corps officer killed by a roadside bomb this week in Afghanistan.
Staff Sgt. Joshua J. Cullins died Monday. He is the second LAPD officer killed this year with the Marines in war-torn Helmand province.

Cullins, an explosive ordinance disposal officer, recently had recovered from a concussion he suffered dismantling another roadside bomb in July, it was reported today.

Two months ago, LAPD officers who patrol downtown Los Angeles took to the streets to make a video get-well card for Cullins, thanking him for his service and urging him to make it back home safe, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Buoyed by his friends' messages and by the accompanying music video dedicated to him, Cullins bounced back quickly from the concussion he suffered in the July 16 explosion of a 15-pound bomb, The Times reported.

On Tuesday, his friends learned Cullins died the day before from injuries caused by another roadside bomb.

Details of Cullins' death were not immediately available from the Department of Defense, but police sources indicated Cullins was killed by a secondary bomb as his unit was investigating an earlier explosion.

A Marine Corps reservist, Cullins was serving with the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment in Marja, in Afghanistan's dangerous Helmand province.

The two-part "Welcome Home" video for Cullins (Part 1, Part 2) includes personal messages from Chief Charlie Beck to rookie patrolmen telling "Josh" they were looking forward to seeing him back at work in Los Angeles.

Hunter Ackerman made this music-video welcome-home tribute for LAPD Staff Sgt. Joshua Cullins, 28, a U.S. Marine who was killed Monday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. The second part of the video includes messages from LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and others.

(Part 2)