thedrifter
02-19-07, 01:28 PM
WB Marine to be awarded Purple Heart
Brockton Enterprise, MA
Alice C. Elwell, Enterprise correspondent
A West Bridgewater Marine has been awarded the Purple Heart for wounds he suffered in Iraq in October.
Jonathan D. Wood, 20, was wounded by an improvised explosive device (IED) while riding in a light armored vehicle along the banks of the Eurphrates River.
“My son was zapped by an IED... estimated to be 250 pounds of high explosives,” said his father, Robert Wood of Bridgewater, himself a former Marine. “It literally blew the vehicle up.”
The Marines sitting on either side of Wood were killed.
The Defense Department said Marine Lance Cpl. Edward M. Garvin, 19, of Malden, and Marine Cpl. Benjamin S. Rosales, 20, of Houston, Texas, died Oct. 4 while conducting combat operations in Iraq's Anbar province.
They were assigned to Wood's platooon, Delta company, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Wood told his father the first thing he remembered was waking up, face down outside of his vehicle, blinded by the dirt.
Although Wood was wounded himself, he helped carry the injured — six Marines and an Iraqi interpreter — to a helicopter.
Wood lost the sight in one eye and his best friend, Eddie Garvin, in the attack, his father said.
News of the attack first reached the Wood family in an abbreviated cell phone call.
Wood's father was on a commuter train headed for Boston at 6:45 a.m. when his son called from Iraq.
All he heard was, “I'm hurt, I'm OK,” and the signal died.
It wasn't until Robert Wood arrived at South Station in Boston that he heard the rest of his son's news.
There was a voicemail asking him to break the news to his mother.
“Dad, we've got to tell her,” the message said.
Wood left South Station within minutes, returned to Bridgewater, and went to his former wife's house.
Denise Wood of West Bridgewater knew it was bad news.
“She knew when I showed up at her door at 8:30 a.m. She burst into tears.”
At that point Jonathan Wood's condition was “guarded”
Jonathan Wood was hit with shrapnel, but his father said his helmet and flack jacket saved his life. He said the force of the blast sent shrapnel through three M16 magazines.
“The blast ripped through the (vehicle), killing two Marines on either side of Jon.”
His son was thrown five yards out of the vehicle and the 10-ton truck was lifted off the ground and flipped over.
While Jonathan Wood was serving a second tour of Iraq, the divorced couple had another son, 18-year-old Zachary, in boot camp and they didn't know how to reach him.
When the Marines learned what happened, they put the family in touch with their younger son within a couple hours.
Cpl. Jonathan Wood is currently being treated at the Wounded Warriors Barricks in Camp Lejeune.
He will receive his Purple Heart when his company returns from Iraq.
In the meantime, Robert Wood represented his son at Garvin's wake in Boston.
He said watching Garvin's widow, Melissa, 19, was the hardest thing he had ever done, he said.
Ellie
Brockton Enterprise, MA
Alice C. Elwell, Enterprise correspondent
A West Bridgewater Marine has been awarded the Purple Heart for wounds he suffered in Iraq in October.
Jonathan D. Wood, 20, was wounded by an improvised explosive device (IED) while riding in a light armored vehicle along the banks of the Eurphrates River.
“My son was zapped by an IED... estimated to be 250 pounds of high explosives,” said his father, Robert Wood of Bridgewater, himself a former Marine. “It literally blew the vehicle up.”
The Marines sitting on either side of Wood were killed.
The Defense Department said Marine Lance Cpl. Edward M. Garvin, 19, of Malden, and Marine Cpl. Benjamin S. Rosales, 20, of Houston, Texas, died Oct. 4 while conducting combat operations in Iraq's Anbar province.
They were assigned to Wood's platooon, Delta company, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Wood told his father the first thing he remembered was waking up, face down outside of his vehicle, blinded by the dirt.
Although Wood was wounded himself, he helped carry the injured — six Marines and an Iraqi interpreter — to a helicopter.
Wood lost the sight in one eye and his best friend, Eddie Garvin, in the attack, his father said.
News of the attack first reached the Wood family in an abbreviated cell phone call.
Wood's father was on a commuter train headed for Boston at 6:45 a.m. when his son called from Iraq.
All he heard was, “I'm hurt, I'm OK,” and the signal died.
It wasn't until Robert Wood arrived at South Station in Boston that he heard the rest of his son's news.
There was a voicemail asking him to break the news to his mother.
“Dad, we've got to tell her,” the message said.
Wood left South Station within minutes, returned to Bridgewater, and went to his former wife's house.
Denise Wood of West Bridgewater knew it was bad news.
“She knew when I showed up at her door at 8:30 a.m. She burst into tears.”
At that point Jonathan Wood's condition was “guarded”
Jonathan Wood was hit with shrapnel, but his father said his helmet and flack jacket saved his life. He said the force of the blast sent shrapnel through three M16 magazines.
“The blast ripped through the (vehicle), killing two Marines on either side of Jon.”
His son was thrown five yards out of the vehicle and the 10-ton truck was lifted off the ground and flipped over.
While Jonathan Wood was serving a second tour of Iraq, the divorced couple had another son, 18-year-old Zachary, in boot camp and they didn't know how to reach him.
When the Marines learned what happened, they put the family in touch with their younger son within a couple hours.
Cpl. Jonathan Wood is currently being treated at the Wounded Warriors Barricks in Camp Lejeune.
He will receive his Purple Heart when his company returns from Iraq.
In the meantime, Robert Wood represented his son at Garvin's wake in Boston.
He said watching Garvin's widow, Melissa, 19, was the hardest thing he had ever done, he said.
Ellie