Marine 1st Lieut Childers was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, Cal. Childers was shot in the stomach as he led his platoon to secure an oil field in southern Iraq and died in a surgical unit in Kuwait. Therrel fell in love with the Marines at the age of 5, when his father, a Navy Seabee, took him on a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. "He saw those Marines in their dress blues guarding the embassy, and he wanted to be one himself," Joseph Childers recalls. A born leader, serious and focused, he built his life around being a Marine. His idea of fun was skiing, backpacking, anything to keep in shape for the Marines. Therrel, who was single, loved to exercise. He was an accomplished runner, competing in several races around the country and he had climbed Mount Hood, in Oregon, with some Marine buddies. When he visited his parents, in Powell, Wyo., he liked to keep fit by running up a steep hill. Therrel, a French major, had his flair for Renaissance living, too. He loved to read, particularly anything on the history of the Marine Corps. He also wanted to train horses someday.
Marine 1st Lieut Childers was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, Cal. Childers was shot in the stomach as he led his platoon to secure an oil field in southern Iraq and died in a surgical unit in Kuwait. Therrel fell in love with the Marines at the age of 5, when his father, a Navy Seabee, took him on a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. "He saw those Marines in their dress blues guarding the embassy, and he wanted to be one himself," Joseph Childers recalls. A born leader, serious and focused, he built his life around being a Marine. His idea of fun was skiing, backpacking, anything to keep in shape for the Marines. Therrel, who was single, loved to exercise. He was an accomplished runner, competing in several races around the country and he had climbed Mount Hood, in Oregon, with some Marine buddies. When he visited his parents, in Powell, Wyo., he liked to keep fit by running up a steep hill. Therrel, a French major, had his flair for Renaissance living, too. He loved to read, particularly anything on the history of the Marine Corps. He also wanted to train horses someday.
