Marine Cpl. Nathaniel T.
Hammond, formerly of Tulsa, was killed Monday in
Iraq, officials announced
Tuesday. He was 24.
Having trained with a Marine Corps Reserve unit in
Broken Arrow, Hammond
was currently attached to a
Reserve unit based in Chicago. His next of kin live in
Missouri.
Hammond died with another Marine, Lance Cpl.
Shane O'Donnell of DeForest, Wis., as the result of
enemy action in Iraq's Babil
Province. Details of the attack were not available, a
Marine spokesman said.
The Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader reported that Hammond
was the eldest son of Thomas
and Deborah Hammond of
Brighton, Mo. He had one brother and four sisters and was a
member of the 2nd Battalion of
the Marine Corps Reserve.
"They're taking it very rough,"
Joshua Hammond, Nathaniel's
younger brother, said of his parents.
"(My father is) devastated, and
my mom is heartbroken."
The Springfield newspaper reported that when the news
reached Nathaniel Hammond's
alma mater in Pleasant Hope,
Mo., some teachers choked up.
"It's just extremely sad," said
Debbie Agee, a teacher at Pleasant Hope public schools. "I think
I've learned what the ultimate
sacrifice means. . . . We sacrificed a wonderful young man.
"He was the sweetest. He was
a very quiet and kind and friendly kid and very respectful," Agee
said.
Joshua Hammond said his
brother graduated from Pleasant
Hope High School in 1998 and
soon joined the Marines.
Sgt. Jared Deckard, who returned to
Fair Grove in July
from a 14-month deployment in
Iraq, told the News-Leader that
his friend since the seventh
grade had always wanted to be
in the military.
"Ever since I knew him, he
wanted to be in the Special Forces," Deckard said.
Although Hammond was yet
to join that elite corps, "he died
doing what he wanted to do and
what he loved to do," Deckard
said.
Joshua Hammond, a Springfield truck driver, told the News-Leader that his brother was "always very happy" and "really, really family-oriented."
"He really loved his nephews,
and he had two nieces -- one
was born today -- that he hadn't
seen," Joshua said Tuesday.
Nathaniel Hammond was a
flight instructor at the College of
the Ozarks before he was called
to California to learn Iraq's local
languages, his brother told the
Missouri newspaper.
He also was a devoted Christian who attended Vineyard
Christian Fellowship in Springfield whenever he was in the
Ozarks, Joshua Hammond said.
"Everybody who knew him
held him in high regard," Joshua
Hammond said. "I don't think
the guy had any enemies. If he
did, he would laugh with them
and become good friends."
His assignment to Iraq not only took him to a beautiful country but also made him realize
that American soldiers were doing a good service and that the
Iraqi people welcomed them,
Joshua Hammond told the News-Leader.
"Women and children could
come out of the house because
no one (would) kill them any
more," Joshua Hammond said.
Nathaniel Hammond would not
regret dying in combat, he said.
"Nathan really believed what
he was doing," Joshua Hammond said. "If he had a choice
to die, that was the way he
wanted to die."
