One was a 19-year-old from Georgia, who served as a lance corporal artillery cannoneer. Another was a 40-year-old from Massachusetts, who survived two tours in Iraq and earned a Purple Heart.
A day after a gunman opened fire on military personnel in Chattanooga, Tenn. -- killing four Marines -- profiles of the men who served their country only to die on its soil began to emerge.
Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, from Springfield, Mass. and a Marine since 1997, was one of those killed Thursday by Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, a Kuwaiti-born Chattanooga resident who opened fire on two military facilities in Chattanooga before being shot dead by police near the scene.
The three other Marines killed were identified Friday as Lance Cpl. Skip "Squire" Wells, of Marietta, Ga., Sgt. Carson Holmquist, of Grantsburg Wisc., and Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, of Chattanooga.
Sullivan served in India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines and fought in the 2005 Battle of Abu Ghraib, where he earned a Combat Action medal and Purple Heart.
The Facebook page of a Springfield bar and restaurant owned by one of Sullivan's two siblings posted a message paying tribute to Sullivan.
Related Image
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Marine Lance Cpl. Skip Wells, in his military portrait, and with his
mother, Cathy Wells, in a photo taken last week at Disney World, where
Skip was honored as a service member of the day. (Courtesy: Cathy Wells)
Sullivan's friend, Josh Parnell, of Chicago, told Oak Lawn Patch, "There's no Marine you would want that was better in combat than him."
On Friday, friends posted tributes to Holmquist on his Facebook page, which was plastered with photos of the American flag.
"You will be missed bud," wrote one friend.
Just last week, Wells and his mother traveled to Disney World where he was honored as a service member of the day. Cathy Wells told Fox News her son died for the love of his country.
Abdulazeez attacked a military recruitment center in Chattanooga, spraying the strip mall facility with gunfire from his silver Mustang before driving, with police in pursuit, to a Naval training facility seven miles away, where he killed the unarmed Marines.
Three other people — a Navy sailor, a Marine Corps recruiter and a police officer — were wounded in Thursday's attack. Sources told Fox News early Friday that the sailor, who is in serious condition, underwent surgery and made it through the night much to the relief of doctors. The police officer was shot in the ankle. The recruiter was wounded in the leg and has been released from the hospital.
The remains of the Marines are en route to Dover, Delaware, a Marine Corps spokesman said Friday afternoon.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker ordered U.S. and Massachusetts flags to be flown at half-staff at all state buildings and military installations across the state in honor of Sullivan and the other victims of the attack.
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