Four Marines slain in Chattanooga united in pride in serving
By Katie Reilly and Edward McAllister
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three of the Marines killed on Thursday in Chattanooga, Tennessee were battle-hardened veterans who survived tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. The fourth was relatively new to the Marine Corps, fresh out of boot camp.
Even though their service records varied and they hailed from different states, the four were apparently united in taking pride in their country and their service.
They lost their lives far away from any combat zones, in a quiet town surrounded by the tree-lined hills of southern Tennessee. There, a shooter identified by the FBI as Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, gunned them down in a rampage now being investigated as a possible terror attack.
Outlines of the lives of the four slain Marines have started to emerge from online posts and photos, as well as from interviews with close friends and family.
The Marine Corps released their names and service records on Friday: Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Sullivan, 40, from Hampden, Massachusetts; Staff Sergeant David Wyatt, 37, of Burke, North Carolina; Sergeant Carson Holmquist from Polk, Wisconsin and Lance Corporal Squire Wells, a reservist from Cobb, Georgia.
Sullivan, who completed two tours in Iraq between 2004 and 2008, received two Purple Heart medals, awarded to service members wounded in battle.
One of three siblings, he joined the Corps in 1997. On Facebook, he shared photos of himself in uniform, stocky with short-cropped hair, posing with a newly presented gunnery sergeant certificate.
"Anyone who went to Holy Cross School, Cathedral High School or grew up in the East Forest Park knew who Tommy was. He was our hero and he will never be forgotten," said a Facebook post by Nathan Bill's, the restaurant in Sullivan's hometown owned by his brother. A Marine Corps flag now flies outside the establishment alongside American and Irish flags.
Wyatt, a married father who lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, studied at the University of Montana, according to local media reports. He grew up in Russellville, Arkansas, and posted pictures of himself waving American flags in uniform with his children.
Wyatt completed two tours in Iraq and was a source of pride in his family for his service even before his death.
"Proud of my Marine," his father, Allen Wyatt, wrote on Facebook earlier this month beneath Wyatt's profile picture featuring the symbol for his Marine Corps staff sergeant rank.
Holmquist joined the Marines in 2009 in Wisconsin and did tours of duty in Afghanistan in 2013 and 2014. A Facebook page also showed an image of him waving an American flag.
Squire "Skip" Wells, 21, was the youngest casualty. A Georgia Southern University student who left for the Marines last year, he had just finished boot camp when he was killed. Recent photos posted online show a smiling young man, fresh out of school.
"He was smart, he was loyal, he was a good guy and a good Marine," his girlfriend Caroline Dove told CNN on Friday.
"When we first met, he was like, 'You know, I'm going to be a Marine. That's all I really want to do. That's all I know, and that's all I love.'"
(Reporting By Edward McAllister and Katie Reilly in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty and Tom Brown)
