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Christopher
W. Thompson—July 2006 Shipment Honoree
Navy
Petty Officer 3rd Class, age 25, of N. Wilkesboro, North
Carolina.; assigned to Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd
Marines, 8th Regimental Combat Team, 2nd Marine Division,
Fleet Marine Forces Atlantic, based in Camp Lejeune, North
Carolina; killed in action on October 21, 2005 from an IED
explosion while conducting Combat operations against enemy
forces in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq.
Wilkes County,
North Carolina Sailor Killed in Iraq
Source:
Associated Press
Hospitalman 3rd
Class Chris Thompson and another member of the 2nd Marine
Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) were killed
in the bombing near Amiriyah, 25 miles west of Baghdad.
Thompson, 25, was riding in the left rear seat of an armored
vehicle when an improvised explosive device was set off, his
parents, Larry and Geraldine Thompson.
Thompson's
executive officer said he was proud to go to war with
Thompson, his brother, David Thompson said.
"He
knew if something happened, he'd take care of them," David
Thompson said. "If things were worst, he'd be the first one to
step up." David Thompson also is a Navy corpsman assigned to
the Marines.
When
Thompson came home from his first combat tour, he was asked
how he managed to insert an IV in someone's arm on a
battlefield while bullets were crackling by and bombs were
exploding. "He said, 'All I can tell you is I haven't missed
yet. When you've got somebody dying, you've got to do what you
can do," Larry Thompson said.
During
his first tour from March 2004 to October 2004, Thompson
helped four Marines hurt when a bomb exploded beside the
Humvee in front of his. A fifth Marine, his best friend, died
in his arms.
At
home, he talked to his father about still seeing the faces of
those who had died. Larry Thompson, an Army veteran, said he
still sees the faces of those who died when he was in Vietnam.
"I
don't want to forget them," he says he told his son. "I want
to remember them and honor them.
"You
do the best you can and come home. That's all you can do."
Thompson
joined the Navy when he was 21. He finished basic training
three days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and was sent
to the USS Austin. Eighteen months later, he started corpsman
training.
Thompson's
mother remembered him as a funny boy. As a teenager, he would
sneak her convertible out to take his friends for a ride, she
said. She never told him she knew.
He
played football and baseball at North Wilkes High School, and
hoped to study at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C.
when his military duty ended. He wanted to become a coach and
teacher, his family said.
Navy
Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher W.
Thompson
Source:
The Gazette
Chris
Thompson kept a level head as a Navy hospital corpsman, even
amid the violence and bloodshed of war. Marine Lance
Cpl. Michael Jernigan said Thompson saved his life after an
explosion and firefight left him blind and bleeding. "He was
one of the best men I've ever met. I'm standing here because
of him," Jernigan said.
Thompson,
25, of North
Wilkesboro, N.C., died Oct. 21 in an explosion near Amariyah.
It was his second tour in Iraq. Thompson's
sister-in-law, Mellisa, a corpsman in the Navy Reserves,
offered a tribute during his funeral. "I can remember at
our wedding that Chris was always hugging me," she said. "He
said he'd always wished for a sister." Thompson won the
Navy and Marine Commendation with Valor for his actions that
saved Jernigan and other Marines on Aug. 22, 2004. His
brother, David, also a Navy hospital corpsman, said that
Chris' executive officer told him he was proud to go to war
with Chris. "He knew if something happened he'd take
care of them," David said. "If things were worst, he'd be the
first one to step up." He also is survived by his
parents, Larry and Geraldine.
Petty
Officer Third Class Christopher Thompson
Source:
Charlotte Observer. 10/29/2005.
NORTH
WILKESBORO—Officer Thompson, age 25, of Shingle Gap Road,
Millers Creek, died Friday, October 21, 2005 in Iraq. Funeral
services will be held Sunday, 3:00
at Peace Haven Baptist Church with the Rev. Tim Pruitt and
Rev. Tommy Hutchins officiating. Burial will be in Mountlawn
Memorial Park.
Petty
Officer Thompson was born in Wilkes
County, July
30, 1980, to
Larry and Geraldine Reid Thompson. He served in the US Navy as
a corpsman and was attached to US Marine Corp in Camp
Leujune. He received the National Defense Service Medal, Sea
Service Deployment Ribbon 3rd Award, Good Conduct Award,
Combat Action Ribbon Operation Iraqi Freedom, Global War On
Terrorism Service Medal, Global War On Terrorism Expeditionary
Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, The
Navy and Marine Commendation with Valor and the Purple Heart.
Christopher
was very active in sports. He played baseball for North
Wilkes High School and Wilkes Community College. He also
played football at North
Wilkes High School. Christopher was a member of the North
Wilkes ROTC for one year. He was active in Yellow Jackets
Football and Babe Ruth Baseball and a counselor at the Elk
Camp for two years.
In
addition to his parents, Christopher is survived by two
brothers, Jimmy Epley and his wife, Krista of Hays, David
Thompson and his wife, Mellisa of Wilkesboro; paternal
grandmother, Statia Thompson Eplee of Forest City.
Memorials
may be made to Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, 875
N. Randolph Street, Suite 225,
Arlington, VA 22203-1977. Online Condolences may be made at
www.reinssturdivant.com
The members of Landstuhl
Hospital Care Project were honored to remember Christopher during
the month of July 2006 with our shipments to the Landstuhl Regional
Medical Center in Germany, and U.S. military hospitals in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Christopher's
family and friends today and in the years to come. |
