thedrifter
10-03-06, 07:33 AM
Wounded, But Still Coming Home
East Lyme Marine seriously hurt just days before ending Iraq duty
By Kyn Tolson
East Lyme –– Just a day or two away from finishing his war duty on the streets of Fallujah, Iraq, Sgt. Terry Rathbun Jr. was seriously wounded Friday while on patrol there, according to his father.
Rathbun, a 35-year-old whose family lives in Niantic, was in stable condition Monday in Germany with a life-threatening wound after being shot in the face, according to a Marine spokesman.
The details of the shooting and his injury were unavailable Monday, but Rathbun's father, Terry Rathbun Sr., said by telephone from his Seacrest Avenue home that his son will likely be airlifted to Bethesda Naval Hospital by today or Wednesday.
Rathbun Sr. said he knows only that the bullet entered his son's right cheek and exited his neck. He plans to travel to the hospital in Maryland after his son arrives there.
Rathbun Jr. is a squad leader of about a dozen infantrymen with the Marine Reserves of Charlie Company, home-based in Plainville. The company of some 200 men is part of the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, which has been in Fallujah since early April. Charlie Company and the rest of the battalion are due back on the East Coast by late October, but most of the men have already turned over their duties to replacements.
The news of his son's injury comes at a particularly trying time for his family, Rathbun Sr. said, because his wife, Diane, has been taken to hospitals twice in the last 10 days for emergency conditions related to a heart condition and diabetes. The 60-year-old woman suffered a mild heart attack at the Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven on Sept. 23 and has been home only since Thursday, said Rathbun Sr.
Then, just Monday morning, she was taken to the emergency room at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London for a few hours for diabetes-related problems.
While his mother has been suffering from her heart condition in recent months, Rathbun Jr. learned only recently that she was scheduled for surgery on Oct. 16 to have a pacemaker implanted, according to his father.
“I kinda held off telling him for a while, because I didn't want him to be worried,” he said. “He would be worried, because it's his mother, and they're close.”
After a telephone conversation with his son last Wednesday, Rathbun Sr. had decided he would put in a request through the American Red Cross that his son be allowed to come home about two weeks early so that he could be here for his mother's operation.
“I called Red Cross on Saturday morning,” he said. “Then, Saturday night the lieutenant colonel called at about 9:30, telling me he'd been wounded. He said, 'We have him stabilized.' He was taken to Balad (in Iraq) and then to Germany.”
Rathbun Jr. is married, and his wife, Shawn, lives in southeastern Connecticut. She did not want to comment Monday, saying only she plans to travel to Bethesda.
When word comes of his son's arrival in the United States, Rathbun Sr. said, he will likely drive down to Maryland with his best friend, Leon Brown of Clinton. Diane Rathbun is too ill to travel and will stay home, he said.
Rathbun Sr. and his wife share the family home with their grown daughter, Lynn Dean, her husband and their two children.
Along with Terry Jr., who goes by the family nickname “TR,” the elder Rathbuns have another son, Frederick, who lives next door with his wife and baby boy.
“TR is going to be the godfather when he gets back,” said Rathbun Sr.
Rathbun Jr. graduated from East Lyme High School in 1990. Before joining the Marine Reserve, he was on active duty for more than five years and was in Somalia in 1993 and Haiti soon after. While with Charlie Company, he served in Japan and Bahrain in 2003. He has been a diver and a scout sniper with the Marines.
As a civilian, he has worked in carpentry and as a diver.
Ellie
East Lyme Marine seriously hurt just days before ending Iraq duty
By Kyn Tolson
East Lyme –– Just a day or two away from finishing his war duty on the streets of Fallujah, Iraq, Sgt. Terry Rathbun Jr. was seriously wounded Friday while on patrol there, according to his father.
Rathbun, a 35-year-old whose family lives in Niantic, was in stable condition Monday in Germany with a life-threatening wound after being shot in the face, according to a Marine spokesman.
The details of the shooting and his injury were unavailable Monday, but Rathbun's father, Terry Rathbun Sr., said by telephone from his Seacrest Avenue home that his son will likely be airlifted to Bethesda Naval Hospital by today or Wednesday.
Rathbun Sr. said he knows only that the bullet entered his son's right cheek and exited his neck. He plans to travel to the hospital in Maryland after his son arrives there.
Rathbun Jr. is a squad leader of about a dozen infantrymen with the Marine Reserves of Charlie Company, home-based in Plainville. The company of some 200 men is part of the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, which has been in Fallujah since early April. Charlie Company and the rest of the battalion are due back on the East Coast by late October, but most of the men have already turned over their duties to replacements.
The news of his son's injury comes at a particularly trying time for his family, Rathbun Sr. said, because his wife, Diane, has been taken to hospitals twice in the last 10 days for emergency conditions related to a heart condition and diabetes. The 60-year-old woman suffered a mild heart attack at the Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven on Sept. 23 and has been home only since Thursday, said Rathbun Sr.
Then, just Monday morning, she was taken to the emergency room at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London for a few hours for diabetes-related problems.
While his mother has been suffering from her heart condition in recent months, Rathbun Jr. learned only recently that she was scheduled for surgery on Oct. 16 to have a pacemaker implanted, according to his father.
“I kinda held off telling him for a while, because I didn't want him to be worried,” he said. “He would be worried, because it's his mother, and they're close.”
After a telephone conversation with his son last Wednesday, Rathbun Sr. had decided he would put in a request through the American Red Cross that his son be allowed to come home about two weeks early so that he could be here for his mother's operation.
“I called Red Cross on Saturday morning,” he said. “Then, Saturday night the lieutenant colonel called at about 9:30, telling me he'd been wounded. He said, 'We have him stabilized.' He was taken to Balad (in Iraq) and then to Germany.”
Rathbun Jr. is married, and his wife, Shawn, lives in southeastern Connecticut. She did not want to comment Monday, saying only she plans to travel to Bethesda.
When word comes of his son's arrival in the United States, Rathbun Sr. said, he will likely drive down to Maryland with his best friend, Leon Brown of Clinton. Diane Rathbun is too ill to travel and will stay home, he said.
Rathbun Sr. and his wife share the family home with their grown daughter, Lynn Dean, her husband and their two children.
Along with Terry Jr., who goes by the family nickname “TR,” the elder Rathbuns have another son, Frederick, who lives next door with his wife and baby boy.
“TR is going to be the godfather when he gets back,” said Rathbun Sr.
Rathbun Jr. graduated from East Lyme High School in 1990. Before joining the Marine Reserve, he was on active duty for more than five years and was in Somalia in 1993 and Haiti soon after. While with Charlie Company, he served in Japan and Bahrain in 2003. He has been a diver and a scout sniper with the Marines.
As a civilian, he has worked in carpentry and as a diver.
Ellie