Sgt. Jason G. Amores

The Department of Defense announced Friday the death of a Marine from Lehigh Acres deployed to Afghanistan.

Sgt. Jason G. Amores, 29, died Jan. 20 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, and Camp Pendleton, Calif.

The Defense Department said Amores was killed in a bomb explosion.

It was the Marine’s third deployment in Afghanistan. He had also served in Iraq twice.

His wife, Jennifer, went to Dover, Del., where her husband’s body is due to arrive this weekend.

He was the son of Beverly and Curtis Middleton. His father had been employed by The Lehigh Acres Citizen when it began publication in 1996. Curtis also worked for the News Star before he and his family moved away from Lehigh.

Another son, Jeremiah, 26, went into the Marines the same day in 2004.

Amores graduated from Lehigh Senior High School in 1999.

Amores’ body is expected to be brought to Lehigh next week.

The family may hold a memorial service for the soldier at a Fort Myers Shores church where the couple was married, a relative said.

The couple had been married for 10 years. They had two children, Corbin, 9, and violet, 4.