Will County marine faces long recovery

[thedrifter]

Will County marine faces long recovery
11/15/2008, 10:55 pm
Comment on this story

By Robert Themer
rthemer@daily-journal.com
815-937-3369

Marine Lance Cpl. Marc Olson, of Coal City, received severe head, neck and eye injuries in a suicide bomb attack last weekend in Ramadi, Iraq.

Eight people were killed and seven injured in the vehicle bomb attack on a police headquarters.

Olson is the son of Janice "Pinky" Kloski of Coal City and the late Edward R. "Butch" Olson. His mother, an office employee of D Construction in Coal City, has flown to Bethesda, Md., where Olson is now being treated at the National Naval Medical Center. His sister, Michele, who lives in Wisconsin, also went.

He was first evacuated to Germany, then flown to Bethesda on Tuesday.

"He's out of intensive care now," his aunt, Susan Olson, of Morris, said on Saturday. "He's going to be having more surgery on Wednesday. He's just got a long road ahead of him."

He had not suffered paralysis, but there is some concern that he might lose his left eye, she said.

"Right now they're working on his mouth. His jaw is wired shut," she said.

Her husband, Rocky Olson, had said earlier that shrapnel hadn't yet been removed from his nephew's head but that no brain damage had been detected.

Marc graduated in 2006 from Coal City High School, where he played on the football team as a running back and defensive back. He joined the Marines in March 2007 and was on his first tour of duty in Iraq. "He was just there one month," Susan Olson said.

She didn't know how many of the victims of the attack were Marines.

Cards and letters can be sent to National Naval Medical Center, Intensive Care Unit, 8901 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, Md., 20889.

~ Robert Themer

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Sunday NOVEMBER 16, 2008 Last modified: Friday, November 14, 2008 6:58 PM CST



Olson injured in Iraq

By Jo Ann Hustis
Herald Staff Writer

Relatives, friends, and neighbors are rallying around Lance Cpl. Marc Olson, who was seriously injured last Saturday during a suicide bomb attack in Iraq.

Olson, 20, of Coal City, was flown Tuesday from Germany to the National Na-val Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., with major head, neck, and eye injuries.

Published reports note that two suicide bombers, one possibly in a vehicle, attacked a police headquarters in Ramadi, in Al Anbar Province, on Nov. 8.

Eight people were killed in the attack, and seven others were injured.

“He has many surgeries to go through yet,” said his uncle, Rocky Olson of Morris, whose late brother, Edward R. “Butch” Olson, was Marc's father. Mrs. Jay “Pinky” Kloski of Coal City is Marc's mom.

“Marc is doing well, considering the extent of his injuries,” said his uncle. “They have not yet removed the shrapnel from his head. It's one step at a time. They have a patch over his eye, the one they're mainly concerned about right now.”

So far, no brain damage has been detected, said Olson.

Marc joined the Marines in March 2007. Deployed to Iraq on Oct. 8, he was stationed in Ramdai, about 68 miles west of Baghdad.

“This was his first deployment. He lost his dad - my brother - to a massive heart attack when he was 12 years old. He always wanted to join the Marines. His mom wasn't too happy, and I wasn't either. I knew what he'd be going through.”

Marc's sister, Michele, of Wis-consin, is flying to Maryland this weekend to be with her brother. Olson will travel to Bethesda around the time of his nephew's surgeries.

Cards and letters of encouragement and well wishes may be sent to Marc Olson at National Naval Medical Center, Intensive Care Unit, 8901 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, Md., 20889.

Ellie