Marine Lieutenant 'died the way he wanted to' .... [Archive] - Marine Corps

wrbones

03-23-03, 03:35 PM

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Posted on Sun, Mar. 23, 2003

Marine lieutenant 'died the way he wanted to'

By Shankar Vedantam and Rene Sanchez
The Washington Post

Lt. Therell S. Childers, one of the first American soldiers killed in combat in Iraq, wanted to be a Marine "since he could spell it," a family member said Saturday.

"In my opinion, he died the way he wanted to," said his brother-in-law, Richard Brown, an Army sergeant who is heading to the Persian Gulf region this week. "He died leading troops into battle. He was 100 percent hoo-ah Marine."

Military officials on Saturday released the names of three servicemen who have been killed since the United States launched an attack on Iraq four days ago: Childers, 30, of Harrison, Miss.; Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, 22, of Los Angeles; and Navy Lt. Thomas Mullen Adams, 27, of La Mesa, Calif.

Four other casualties had already been reported. Late Saturday, there were reports of two additional deaths -- one in a grenade attack in Kuwait and one in a friendly fire incident. No details were available about the friendly fire death.

The grenade attack left one dead and 16 members of the 101st Airborne Division wounded Saturday at their base in Kuwait, Army officials said.

Childers and Gutierrez, both members of the 1st Marine Division based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., were the first U.S. soldiers to be killed in combat in Iraq.

The others were killed in helicopter crashes. Military officials said that Adams died when two British transport helicopters collided over the Persian Gulf. Six British soldiers on board the aircraft were also killed. Adams had been an exchange officer working with the British navy since last fall.

Childers apparently was shot in the stomach early Friday while leading an infantry platoon on an assault of an oil-pumping station in southern Iraq. He died in a surgical unit in Kuwait.

Gutierrez died in combat near the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, military officials said.

Brown said Childers, who was not married, was part of a family that reveres the military. He said that his brother-in-law attended the Citadel military college in South Carolina and earned his commission about two years ago. Childers was deployed to the Persian Gulf about two months ago.

"He was married to the Marines, I'll tell you that much," Brown said. "He didn't want anything different."

News of Childers' death, coupled with Brown's deployment, has left the family shaken. But Brown said members of the family are no less resolute in their support for the country's action.

"He died doing what he wanted to do, and I am going over there to fulfill my mission the way I know how," he said. "When you sign that piece of paper that says, 'I will uphold the Constitution of the United States,' you know the ultimate sacrifice is dying on a battlefield. He knew it, I know it and everyone in my family knows that's the price of joining the military."

With the combat deaths of Childers and Gutierrez, five Marines based at Camp Pendleton, about 30 miles north of San Diego, have been killed in military operations in the Persian Gulf region.

The base had already been mourning the loss of three Marines whose helicopter crashed Friday in bad weather about nine miles from the Iraqi border.

Those who had been stationed at Camp Pendleton were the pilot, Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre, 30, of St. Anne, Ill.; Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Waters-Bey, 29, of Baltimore; and Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25, of Houston. The fourth Marine was Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, 36, of Waterville, Maine.

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