Tribute To Fallen RivCo Marine Gets Unanimous Support In U.S. House

NORCO, CA — A bill designed to honor a fallen U.S. Marine from Riverside County is moving forward after it unanimously passed Tuesday in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Introduced by Congressman Ken Calvert (R-Corona), H.R. 5809 seeks to name the Norco Post Office in honor of Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui. A 20-year-old Norco resident, Nikoui was killed in the line of duty during the August 26, 2021, terror attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The bill now moves on to the U.S. Senate. If signed into law by the president, the legislation will officially designate the U.S. Post Office located at 1801 Town and Country Drive in Norco as the Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui Memorial Post Office.

“As we approach the one-year anniversary of Lance Corporal Nikou’s death, my Congressional District continues to honor the life and memory of Kareem, who was a Norco resident and will be forever remembered as an American hero,” Calvert said. “This bill, this Congress, and this country can never fully repay the Nikoui family for the sacrifice they have made. But by passing this bill, the House remembers Kareem’s bravery and we pay tribute to a young life taken too soon. As the sponsor of this bill, I will continue to work so that it becomes law so that the community of Norco will forever honor and enshrine the name of Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui.”

(Watch Calvert deliver remarks during Tuesday's consideration of the bill on the House floor.)

After graduating from Norco High School in 2019, Nikoui joined the U.S. Marine Corps where he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines unit stationed at Camp Pendleton. As a member of that unit, Nikoui was deployed to Afghanistan where he participated in 2021's Operation Allies Refuge to evacuate U.S. citizens, American allies, Afghan partners and others at risk. While serving at the Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate, Nikoui was one of 13 American servicemembers killed when an ISIS-K terrorist detonated a suicide bomb. More than 160 Afghans also died in the attack.

In September 2021, Nikoui's family and friends packed a church in Riverside County to celebrate the young Marine's life.

During the memorial, loved ones paid tribute, recalling how Nikoui sent videos to his family hours before he died, showing himself interacting with children in Afghanistan.

Phil Wozniak, pastor of Grace Fellowship Church Norco, said Nikoui pulled three families to safety and went back to the airport to rescue a child when the bomb went off.

"It didn't surprise me that those were his last moments," Nikoui's sister Shyler Chappell said.

She said her brother had wanted to become a Marine "for as long as I can remember" and went on to join the Junior ROTC at Norco High School.

Nikoui was one of three U.S. Marines from the Inland Empire killed in the 2021 airport attack. Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga and Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of the Coachella Valley also died. Read more: Mourners In CA Honor 3 Marines Killed In Afghanistan