PDA

View Full Version : Wounded Iraq veteran joins father at sheriff's department



thedrifter
12-21-06, 09:14 PM
NEEDLE'S STORY: Wounded Iraq veteran joins father at sheriff's department

By April Amadon
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal


— As a U.S. Marine, Raymond Needle has been around the world training in California and North Carolina and fighting in Baghdad and Fallujah.

Now, he’s back home, serving as a deputy with the Niagara County Sheriff’s department.

Ray is following in the footsteps of his father, Sgt. Patrick Needle, who’s been with the sheriff’s department for 22 years.
“I wanted to be a police officer since I was a little kid,” Ray said. “The job fits my personality.”

Ray enlisted in the Marines in 1999, when he was a senior at Newfane Senior High School. He trained at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and in the California’s Mojave Desert, where he was trained in urban warfare.

In 2003, Ray was part of the initial invasion of Iraq, arriving in January. He and his fellow Marines were part of the effort to hold key terrain from Kuwait to Baghdad, he said.

After he returned home in August 2003, he worked as a part-time policeman with the Town of Niagara until he was called to Iraq again in January, 2006.

During his first tour of duty, the Lockport Alliance Church adopted his platoon, sending more than 50 packages and letters to the servicemen.

The second time he was deployed, community support was just as strong. The Lockport Apothecary collected personal care items and other necessities — including snacks, sunscreen, socks, phone cards and bug repellent — to send to Ray’s platoon in Fallujah.

Ray said he was touched by the generosity and support he received from the community.

“(I was ) getting letters and packages from people I didn’t even know,” he said. “They don’t even know someone, and they took the time out of their day to send stuff.”

Ray and other Marines in the First Battalion, 25th Marines, Alpha Company worked with Iraqi police and military in Fallujah.

In July, Ray was injured by an improvised explosive device, suffering lacerations to his face and neck. He was taken to a Baghdad hospital for surgery.

There, he had access to a satellite phone and called his father to tell him the news.

“He says, ‘Dad, I’ve been wounded,’” Pat said. “He told me he just had a couple of stitches in his nose.”

Ray said he downplayed the seriousness of the injuries for his father’s sake.

“I know how he worries,” he said.

The following days were frustrating for the Needle family, as Pat recalls trying to get and share information as it came in.
“Being so far away, and you’re not getting information as readily as you’d like to, playing the phone game,” he said.

“The information is trickling through. ...People from the community would start calling the house, and that was the hard part because I didn’t have information. It was coming third-hand sometimes.”

Ray was transported to a hospital in Germany, where he received treatment before returning home in August. He received the Purple Heart and other military honors for his service.

Pat said everyone was relieved he wasn’t more seriously injured.

“It was a big relief,” he said. “For the grace of God, he had all his fingers and toes.”

Contact April Amadon at 439-9222, Ext. 6251.

Ellie