Shaffer
04-24-03, 09:09 AM
CAMP LEJEUNE -- They called him the "Thriller from Manila" because he was the shortest man in Weapons Company carrying the heaviest machine gun into battle at An Nasiriyah, Iraq.
That was in March. Now he carries something else: the title of American citizen.
When Lance Cpl. Oj John B. Santamaria, 21, a machine gunner from Manila, Philippines, was injured in Iraq and told he would not be going back to fight the war, he decided to become an American citizen.
While he was in a partially medicated haze at Bethesda naval hospital in Maryland and fighting nightmares about his comrades still in combat, hospital staff started asking him about his hobbies and wishes.
http://www.newbernsunjournal.com/Details.cfm?StoryID=8530
That was in March. Now he carries something else: the title of American citizen.
When Lance Cpl. Oj John B. Santamaria, 21, a machine gunner from Manila, Philippines, was injured in Iraq and told he would not be going back to fight the war, he decided to become an American citizen.
While he was in a partially medicated haze at Bethesda naval hospital in Maryland and fighting nightmares about his comrades still in combat, hospital staff started asking him about his hobbies and wishes.
http://www.newbernsunjournal.com/Details.cfm?StoryID=8530