April 22
2003



April 22

THREE MEMBERS OF 1st MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE KILLED IN IRAQ 7 Others Wounded

POSTED: 10:42 a.m. PDT April 23, 2003

SAN DIEGO -- Three members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, some of which is based at Camp Pendleton, were killed in Iraq on Tuesday. Seven other Marines were injured in the same incident, reported U.S. Central Command.

Central Command said the Marines were firing a rocket-propelled grenade launcher to get more familiar with it, but the launcher malfunctioned. The accident happened in a remote area near the southern Iraq city of Kut.

The launcher is one of the more common weapons used by Iraqi paramilitaries and other fighters who have threatened coalition forces.

The names of the Marines involved in the accident were being withheld pending next-of-kin notifications.

~~~ On April 24 the Department of Defense identified the three Marines killed in a non-hostile accident during Operation Iraqi Freedom. They were killed when a rocket-propelled grenade launcher they were firing for familiarization malfunctioned. The incident occurred April 22 on a firing range near the city of Al Kut, Iraq. Killed were:

Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Todd Arnold, USMC

Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Todd Arnold, 30, of Spring, Texas. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Chief Warrant Officer Robert William Channell, USMC

Chief Warrant Officer Robert William Channell Jr., 36, of Tuscaloosa, Ala. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

JDNews.com Three Marines — including two from Camp Lejeune — were killed and seven others were injured while they were handling a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, U.S. Central Command said.

Family members identified two of the victims as Cpl. Alan D. Lam, 19, of Snow Camp and Chief Warrant Officer Robert Channell, 36, from Tuscaloosa, Ala. Both were based at Camp Lejeune.

The identity of the third victim was unavailable late Wednesday.

Relatives in Alabama said Channell was disappointed when he didn’t get to serve in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. When he was called to Iraq this time, the Camp Lejeune Marine relished his chance to be a warrior.

“He wanted to go over there to serve his country,” his sister, Tammy Woolbright of Tusca-loosa told The Daily News. “He just wanted to be a part of the war.”

Channell, Lam and some of the injured are with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade attached to Task Force Tarawa in the war with Iraq, military officials said. Channell is survived by a wife, Joyce, and 4-year-old daughter Bethany who live in the Hubert area.

The accident occurred while the Marines were handling a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, U.S. Central Command said. They were firing the RPG — one of the more common weapons used by paramilitary, Fedayeen and other groups that have threatened U.S. and British forces — to familiarize themselves with it. The launcher malfunctioned, U.S. officials said. The accident occurred in a remote area near the southern Iraqi city of Kut, officials said. According to the Tuscaloosa News, Channell was loading grenades onto a truck when it happened. The accident is under investigation.

Channell’s parents, stepparents and siblings gathered to mourn near his native Tuscaloosa, where Channell will be buried.

“Everybody’s upset because he was the baby of the family,” Woolbright said. “He may be the biggest, but he was still the baby.”

Woolbright remembered her brother as outgoing and athletic. He loved sports and coached a football team at the base.

“He just loved life,” she said. “He never had a bad day.”

Cpl. Alan Dinh Lam, USMC

Lance Cpl. Alan Dinh Lam, 19, of Snow Camp, N.C. He was assigned to the 8th Communication Battalion, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Camp Lejeune, N.C. The incident is currently under investigation.

Associated Press: RALEIGH, N.C. -- A Camp Lejeune Marine killed when an enemy grenade launcher misfired in Iraq has been brought home for burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

The remains of Lance Cpl. Alan Lam of Snow Camp arrived Monday night at Piedmont Triad International Airport. His family plans a visitation Tuesday at a Graham funeral home and burial Thursday morning at Arlington.

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JDNews.com ~~ Lam was a member of the 8th Communications unit based at Camp Lejeune. He was a graduate of Southern Alamance High School.

Lam was a member of the 8th Communications unit based at Camp Lejeune, said Capt. George Palaima from the Greensboro-based Marine Corps Reserve unit. Palaima was one of the military representatives who informed Lam’s parents of his death. Lam graduated from Southern Alamance High School in 2001, and graduated from basic training at Parris Island, S.C., in early 2002. Southern Alamance Principal Kent Byrd remembered Lam as a talented artist who worked on the school newspaper staff. “We are just so deeply saddened at the loss and just grieve for the family,” Byrd said. “If you wanted to choose the kind of kid you’d like to have on your high school campus, Alan would be an example of that.”


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