Navy Petty Officer Third Class Bollinger was assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133, Gulfport, Mississippi. Bollinger joined the Navy (Seabees) shortly after high school. He was a happy person who liked to give to others - always grinning and a smile on his face. He wasn't very big, but he didn't know it - in his mind he was a giant. Back in Poteau, Doyle (who was called Wayne) often did odd jobs for people and liked to give people things he'd found or made. He joined the Navy because he wasn't sure what he wanted to do long-term but he felt the Navy was a good place for him. He enjoyed traveling with the Navy and he liked his work. Wayne was always thinking of others. The last time he talked to his mom, about 10 days before his death, he told her he loved her, that he was okay and that she should be expecting a letter. Wayne had sent his mom a list of about 40 guys who, he said, never received care packages or anything from home in hopes that she could help. Wayne was killed when a piece of unexploded ordnance accidentally detonated when his unit was working on a bridge over the Tigris River near the city of Sarabadi.
Navy Petty Officer Third Class Bollinger was assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133, Gulfport, Mississippi. Bollinger joined the Navy (Seabees) shortly after high school. He was a happy person who liked to give to others - always grinning and a smile on his face. He wasn't very big, but he didn't know it - in his mind he was a giant. Back in Poteau, Doyle (who was called Wayne) often did odd jobs for people and liked to give people things he'd found or made. He joined the Navy because he wasn't sure what he wanted to do long-term but he felt the Navy was a good place for him. He enjoyed traveling with the Navy and he liked his work. Wayne was always thinking of others. The last time he talked to his mom, about 10 days before his death, he told her he loved her, that he was okay and that she should be expecting a letter. Wayne had sent his mom a list of about 40 guys who, he said, never received care packages or anything from home in hopes that she could help. Wayne was killed when a piece of unexploded ordnance accidentally detonated when his unit was working on a bridge over the Tigris River near the city of Sarabadi.
