STAR-TELEGRAM/IAN MCVEA
"You hear the numbers. You hear seven killed, and you think seven is not a lot. But seven is huge to a tight-knit group like we are," says Marine Cpl. Christopher Nickell.
Posted on 09/27/2004 7:26:24 AM PDT by Dubya
The news first spread the way this kind of news often does.
A Marine in Iraq called a relative.
"Seven Marines were killed."
Another call went out.
"It happened north of Fallujah."
One woman called her boyfriend's buddy, Marine Cpl. Christopher Nickell of Cedar Hill, a machine gunner who was recuperating at his parents' Cedar Hill home after having shrapnel removed from one of his eyes.
"Which unit?" Nickell asked. Buddies from his unit were still in Iraq.
No one along the grapevine knew for sure.
Nickell turned on Fox News Channel that mid-September day. With blurry vision in his right eye, he also checked the Internet.
The reports said only that those killed by the suicide bomber were from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
That didn't help.
"Just about every Marine over there is in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force," Nickell said, and he waited. And waited.
The next day he saw the names on the Department of Defense Web site. Two of his best friends in the world were dead.
Quinn A. Keith, 21, of Page, Ariz. Mick R. Nygardbekowsky, 21, of Concord, Calif. Both joined the Marines in the days following Sept. 11, 2001. Both were just three weeks from returning home from their second tour in Iraq. Nickell also read the names of five other guys he knew well after serving with them in the desert for the five months before he was wounded.
"You hear the numbers. You hear seven killed, and you think seven is not a lot. But seven is huge to a tight-knit group like we are," Nickell said.
"Over there, when things happen, you bury it and move on. If you grieve there, it would take your concentration away from what you should be doing."
He waits then for the grief he knows will come, someday.
His parents, Kevin and Debbie Nickell, worry about their 22-year-old son. Kevin has 21 years in as a Dallas police officer, and he has never suffered a major injury.
"I don't know if a family can really say how they feel watching a son go through this. We aren't on the other side yet. Coming home isn't everything," Debbie said.
Shrapnel still is embedded in Christopher's left leg, left shoulder and in his face where the metal fragments cut through his nose, some of it entering his eye.
He waits for more surgeries during his remaining year in the Marines. Christopher, in the midst of a sad week, says that he wouldn't choose to return to Iraq but that he will go if he's sent. These days, he's thinking of becoming a firefighter.
He waits for the homecoming of his unit. Will he talk with them, grieve with them?
"We'll grill some steaks, drink some beer and watch some football," Christopher said. And maybe, if the chance arises, as it usually does, they'll toast their forever-gone friends. Jessie Milligan (817) 390-7738 jlmilligan@star-telegram.com
STAR-TELEGRAM/IAN MCVEA
"You hear the numbers. You hear seven killed, and you think seven is not a lot. But seven is huge to a tight-knit group like we are," says Marine Cpl. Christopher Nickell.
STAR-TELEGRAM/IAN MCVEA
"Coming home isn't everything," says Nickell's mother, Debbie Nickell of Cedar Hill. Her son is recuperating at his parents' home after having shrapnel removed from an eye.
Semper Fi.
I'm sorry - but that headline SUCKED!
There is no other word for degrading those killed in action.
"UNLUCKY" ??
From a brother Marine
1969-1981
God bless my brother Marines who have paid the ultimate price for freedom.
They are with God.
Walk up to a Soldier, Airman, Sailor, Guardsman or Marine and thank them today.
Because you might not get the chance again...
Semper Fi,
Kelly
I didn't like it either.
These reporters probably have never been in a war and don't understand. But the headline is a bad one.
Semper Fi opbuzz
Yes we need to wake up and be on guard. Our world is at stake. We are going to need and support leaders like President Bush.
Semper Fi and God bless thes Marines.
USN Airedale, 1980-1996
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