SALUTE TO TERROR THUG’S VICTIMS
Who were these brave Marines gunned down in Tenn. Heroes were killed just for serving their country Shocking loss for wives and children left behind
THEY WERE war heroes and patriots, fathers, brothers and sons, united in life by the U.S. Marine Corps and in death by a knock on the door no family ever wants to hear.
The four Marines gunned down in a terror attack in Chattanooga, Tenn., left behind widows and children. Broken hearts and shattered dreams. And bittersweet memories from lives cut cruelly short.
Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan survived two tours in Iraq, earning a pair of Purple Hearts. Sgt. Carson Holmquist, dad to a 2-yearold, was twice deployed to Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.
Staff Sgt. David Wyatt was a former Eagle Scout and 11-year veteran of the corps. And Lance Cpl. Skip Wells, the youngest of the doomed quartet, was eagerly awaiting a visit from his girlfriend — their first get-together since Valentine’s Day.
When the killer opened fire, Wells, 21, was busy trading playful texts with his love of 21/2 years, Caroline Dove. “Can’t wait anymore,” he wrote her. “Yes you can honey,” she replied. Wells, in the last words they exchanged, then sent an all-caps response: “ACTIVE SHOOTER.” “You are so weird,” she replied. Hours later she texted, “I love you.” And finally: “Hon, I need you to answer me please.”
By the time Mohammad Abdulazeez was stopped, the four Marines were dead inside the perimeter of the Navy Reserve support center.
Sullivan, 40, was the senior member of the doomed group, a Massachusetts native with 18 years as a Marine. The Iraq War veteran earned the respect of his military colleagues across two tours of wartime duty.
“There’s no Marine you would want that was better in combat than him,” said friend Josh Parnell of Chicago to the Oak Lawn Patch. “He’d been shot at so many times over the years, and then for this to happen at home in the United States.”
Sullivan grew up in Springfield, Mass., one of three children. His brother Joe, co-owner of a Massachusetts bar, used his Facebook page to send a message of sorrow and honor.
“He was our hero and he will never be forgotten,” the posting read. “Please keep his family & friends in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you Tommy for protecting us.”
Sullivan fought in the 2005 Battle of Abu Ghraib — earning a Combat Action medal along with one of his Purple Hearts, Parnell said. Flags flew at half-staff throughout Sullivan’s home state.
Wyatt, 37, was married with two children, and family members turned out en masse at his Chattanooga home after the shooting spree.
“There were seven or eight cars there,” stunned neighbor Antony Madakcherry told The Tennessean newspaper. “I thought they were having a party. It didn’t go through my mind (that Wyatt was dead).”
Other friends and relatives also struggled with the lone-wolf massacre that took the 11-year Marine veteran away from them.
“He’s the kind of man this country needs more of,” said Tony Ward, his old Boy Scout leader. Wyatt earned recognition as an Eagle Scout in his native Arkansas.
Wyatt was deployed overseas
three times — including twice in Iraq.
“There will be no sleep tonight,” one relative wrote on the Facebook page of Wyatt’s wife, Lorri.
“None,” responded Lorri, who changed her Facebook profile picture to a shot of her husband in his fatigues with his son, Heath, wrapped in one arm and his daughter, Hudson, in the other.
The couple was married on Dec. 21, 2004.
“He was such a great husband and father,” one friend posted on Lorri Wyatt’s Facebook. “I’m so sorry for you.”
High school football star Holmquist, 25, was originally from Grantsburg, Wis., and was living in Jacksonville, N.C. The young Marine was married with a 2-year-old son, Wyatt, according to his Facebook page.
The country music-loving sergeant, who posted a photo of an American flag on the Web for the Fourth of July, returned last July from a lengthy overseas deployment.
He was so proud of surviving boot camp and making the Marine grade that he returned to Grantsburg High School decked out in his dress blues.
Holmquist, an automotive maintenance engineer, did two tours of duty in Operation Enduring Freedom.
An American flag flew Friday outside the Marietta, Ga., home of Wells’ family.
Wells was in the Marine Reserve, waiting for a callup to active duty, and was serving a twoweek volunteer stretch that began on the day of his death, said longtime family friend Andy Kingery.
The only child, raised by a single mother, attended Georgia Southern University before joining the Marines. He was a member of the Junior ROTC in high
school, where he played clarinet in the marching band.
“He felt called to be in the Marines,” Kingery said. “He loved what he did. He had a lot of friends, and never met an enemy.”
Military service was a family tradition: His grandfather served in the Air Force, and his mother in the Navy. His mom was watching television when the knock came Thursday at the front door.