thedrifter
09-08-08, 08:46 AM
Exclusive: Survivor Remembers Day Two Marines Were Killed
Tom Murray
Katie DeLong
MILWAUKEE - A survivor's harrowing account of the explosion that killed two local Marines.
An IED blast took the lives of Corporal Ricky Nelson and Lance Corporal Dean Opicka.
TODAY’S TMJ4’s Tom Murray spoke with the Marine who was in the Humvee with those two men when it happened.
Fox Company just got back to Wisconsin. Their families came to Milwaukee for a picnic Friday to mark the end of a long tour in Iraq.
For the first time, we heard from men who were there when two of their own lost their lives.
Marines and their loved ones celebrated their return from Iraq, the return to civilian life, while reflecting on a mission they will never forget.
"I remember everything that happened that day,” Cpl. David Doyle said.
Doyle, from Racine, was one of three Marines in a Humvee that Lance Cpl Dean Opicka from Casco was driving. Cpl. Ricky Nelson of Kenosha was next to him in the other front seat. Doyle sat perched in the turret.
"The last thing Opicka said was 'hold on for a bump.’ He's the kind of guy, a caring guy. He didn't want me to get thrown around if he hit a bump,” Doyle said.
By dodging the bump, the Humvee triggered a bomb.
"The IED hit the left rear tire, flipped the vehicle and that's when I flew out,” Doyle said.
The powerful blast rocked other vehicles in the convoy.
"If you play football, get hit by a linebacker, it felt like that,” Cpl. Adam Hotchkiss said.
Through the smoke, Lance Cpl. Nate Bronson spotted Doyle.
"I saw him lying on the ground, then I saw him get back up and I’m like 'Thank God,” Lance Cpl. Bronson said.
“About 15 seconds after the smoke and dust cleared, I got up and I turned to my left to see the wreckage of the vehicle and that's when I called their names,” Doyle said.
Doyle yelled for his fellow Marines, his closest friends, but they were killed almost instantly. Now Doyle is left with the memory of a song…Nelson and Opicka were singing Amazing Grace moments before the deadly blast.
"Rick and Dean, they were both singing it. I was kind of just up there doing my thing, that's when it happened,” Doyle said.
That moment changed the lives of these Marines forever.
One of the men in the convoy who Tom Murray spoke with Friday said they thought the region of Iraq where this happened was extremely safe.
Ellie
Tom Murray
Katie DeLong
MILWAUKEE - A survivor's harrowing account of the explosion that killed two local Marines.
An IED blast took the lives of Corporal Ricky Nelson and Lance Corporal Dean Opicka.
TODAY’S TMJ4’s Tom Murray spoke with the Marine who was in the Humvee with those two men when it happened.
Fox Company just got back to Wisconsin. Their families came to Milwaukee for a picnic Friday to mark the end of a long tour in Iraq.
For the first time, we heard from men who were there when two of their own lost their lives.
Marines and their loved ones celebrated their return from Iraq, the return to civilian life, while reflecting on a mission they will never forget.
"I remember everything that happened that day,” Cpl. David Doyle said.
Doyle, from Racine, was one of three Marines in a Humvee that Lance Cpl Dean Opicka from Casco was driving. Cpl. Ricky Nelson of Kenosha was next to him in the other front seat. Doyle sat perched in the turret.
"The last thing Opicka said was 'hold on for a bump.’ He's the kind of guy, a caring guy. He didn't want me to get thrown around if he hit a bump,” Doyle said.
By dodging the bump, the Humvee triggered a bomb.
"The IED hit the left rear tire, flipped the vehicle and that's when I flew out,” Doyle said.
The powerful blast rocked other vehicles in the convoy.
"If you play football, get hit by a linebacker, it felt like that,” Cpl. Adam Hotchkiss said.
Through the smoke, Lance Cpl. Nate Bronson spotted Doyle.
"I saw him lying on the ground, then I saw him get back up and I’m like 'Thank God,” Lance Cpl. Bronson said.
“About 15 seconds after the smoke and dust cleared, I got up and I turned to my left to see the wreckage of the vehicle and that's when I called their names,” Doyle said.
Doyle yelled for his fellow Marines, his closest friends, but they were killed almost instantly. Now Doyle is left with the memory of a song…Nelson and Opicka were singing Amazing Grace moments before the deadly blast.
"Rick and Dean, they were both singing it. I was kind of just up there doing my thing, that's when it happened,” Doyle said.
That moment changed the lives of these Marines forever.
One of the men in the convoy who Tom Murray spoke with Friday said they thought the region of Iraq where this happened was extremely safe.
Ellie