thedrifter
01-12-07, 11:20 AM
Wounded Marine Doze arrives in Ohio from Iraq
By Dylan McCament, News Staff Reporter
Friday, January 12, 2007
MOUNT VERNON — Marine Sgt. Jesse Doze received a hero’s welcome Thursday night. He returned to his wife and child after sustaining injuries in a recent helicopter crash in Iraq.
“It feels good to be back,” the 28-year-old platoon sergeant of Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment said. “It’s not Iraq anymore. That’s a place you don’t want to be anymore.”
Local police escorted Doze’s car as it approached his wife’s parents house on Southridge Drive, Thursday night. The Knox County Veterans Advocacy Committee and the Knox County Joint Veterans Council greeted him. With crutches and a little help from family members, he made his way to the front entrance of the house. The honor guard in attendance fired three rounds.
With tears in his eyes, Doze said thank you.
Members of the groups, as well as Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis, shook Doze’s hand and thanked him for his service to the country.
Doze said he has been in the Marines for eight years. His home base is Twentynine Palms, Calif. He spent three months in Iraq, in the Al-Unbar province near the town of al Qa’ im. He grew up in Carbondale, Kan., where his parents live. His wife, Carissa Doze, lives in Mount Vernon with their 1-year old son, Curtis.
Doze said the helicopter he was on went down Dec. 11. A member of a mobile assault platoon, he was on a heavy transport helicopter with about 16 other Marines as part of a training mission of which another helicopter took part. The other helicopter landed and sent dirt flying up in the air. This “brown out” blinded the pilot of the helicopter, Doze said. He said the ensuing crash killed one Marine.
“I just remember Marines’ bodies flying all around the helicopter,” he said. “A Marine came towards me head first, hit me in the head and knocked me out.”
Doze said he eventually woke up outside of the helicopter.
“I guess I had been thrown out the back when it was turning on the ground,” he said.
Doze said he suffered a broken hip and torn muscles and ligaments in his shoulder. He is currently on convalescence leave.
Sitting on a couch with her husband and son, Doze’s wife said she was glad to have him home.
Patrick Cella said his son-in-law was greeted with applause by a crowd at the airport in Columbus when he arrived. He said the family didn’t have anything to do with this group; they just showed up.
“It was great,” Cella said. “The place was mobbed.”
Asked what civilians in Midwestern communities like Knox County should know about the war, he said they need to know that morale is good.
“The soldiers are doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” he said. “They know it’s dangerous. They do the right thing every day to ensure not only the safety of that they themselves are safe but also the civilians that we’re over there trying to defend.”
Doze said he was thankful for the support members of the community gave his family while he was gone.
Ellie
By Dylan McCament, News Staff Reporter
Friday, January 12, 2007
MOUNT VERNON — Marine Sgt. Jesse Doze received a hero’s welcome Thursday night. He returned to his wife and child after sustaining injuries in a recent helicopter crash in Iraq.
“It feels good to be back,” the 28-year-old platoon sergeant of Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment said. “It’s not Iraq anymore. That’s a place you don’t want to be anymore.”
Local police escorted Doze’s car as it approached his wife’s parents house on Southridge Drive, Thursday night. The Knox County Veterans Advocacy Committee and the Knox County Joint Veterans Council greeted him. With crutches and a little help from family members, he made his way to the front entrance of the house. The honor guard in attendance fired three rounds.
With tears in his eyes, Doze said thank you.
Members of the groups, as well as Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis, shook Doze’s hand and thanked him for his service to the country.
Doze said he has been in the Marines for eight years. His home base is Twentynine Palms, Calif. He spent three months in Iraq, in the Al-Unbar province near the town of al Qa’ im. He grew up in Carbondale, Kan., where his parents live. His wife, Carissa Doze, lives in Mount Vernon with their 1-year old son, Curtis.
Doze said the helicopter he was on went down Dec. 11. A member of a mobile assault platoon, he was on a heavy transport helicopter with about 16 other Marines as part of a training mission of which another helicopter took part. The other helicopter landed and sent dirt flying up in the air. This “brown out” blinded the pilot of the helicopter, Doze said. He said the ensuing crash killed one Marine.
“I just remember Marines’ bodies flying all around the helicopter,” he said. “A Marine came towards me head first, hit me in the head and knocked me out.”
Doze said he eventually woke up outside of the helicopter.
“I guess I had been thrown out the back when it was turning on the ground,” he said.
Doze said he suffered a broken hip and torn muscles and ligaments in his shoulder. He is currently on convalescence leave.
Sitting on a couch with her husband and son, Doze’s wife said she was glad to have him home.
Patrick Cella said his son-in-law was greeted with applause by a crowd at the airport in Columbus when he arrived. He said the family didn’t have anything to do with this group; they just showed up.
“It was great,” Cella said. “The place was mobbed.”
Asked what civilians in Midwestern communities like Knox County should know about the war, he said they need to know that morale is good.
“The soldiers are doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” he said. “They know it’s dangerous. They do the right thing every day to ensure not only the safety of that they themselves are safe but also the civilians that we’re over there trying to defend.”
Doze said he was thankful for the support members of the community gave his family while he was gone.
Ellie