Lance Corporal Mason J. Vanderwork, USMC

Lance Corporal Mason J. Vanderwork, 21 of Hickory, North Carolina, died on March 19th. He and six other Marines were killed during a at Hawthorne Army Depot, in Nevada.

Mason joined the Marines in June of 2010 and served overseas twice. Vanderwork was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

His awards include the National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, and NATO Medal-ISAF Afghanistan.

Mason graduated from St. Stephens High School  in 2010, two-and-a-half years later he had served overseas twice, bought his first car and got married to a girl from home after knowing her for only two months. They planned to start a family together, wife Taylor Vanderwork said.

Taylor said she learned of his death when three men in uniform came to the door of the couple’s Jacksonville home. Mason loved being a Marine and had a tattoo emblazoned on his chest, she said, that read: “Sacrifice. Without fear there is no courage.”

Family members and friends remember Mason as a spontaneous, caring person who loved the beach, fast cars and spending time with family and friends. He had an 11-year-old sister who idolized him.

Mason is survived by his parents, Melissa Vanderwork, of Hickory and Kevin Hallberg, of Jamestown. In addition to his parents, he is survived by his wife, Taylor Vanderwork, of Jacksonville, N.C.; sister, Katelyn McMahan, of Hickory; grandfather, Terry Vanderwork, of Clymer, N.Y.; grandparents, Cecil and Gloria Huffman, of Taylorsville; grandmother, Donna Morgan, of Hickory; uncle, Dawayne Vanderwork, of Lakewood, N.Y.; mother-in-law, Janet Molander-Foster, of Hickory; father-in-law, Mark Foster, of Hickory; two brothers-in-law, Bryant Molander, of Dover, N.H. and Justin Molander, of Ft. Carson, Colo.; and sister-in-law, Lindsey Foster, of Hickory.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, April 1, in the chapel at Bass-Smith Funeral Home in Hickory. Memorials may be made in his honor to “Marines Helping Marines.”