CWO Robert Channel, U.S.M.C (NCD)

'He didn’t want us to live in fear’

HOLT | Eva Sutton expected to see her son, Marine Chief Warrant Officer Robert Channell, soon. He had called his wife in North Carolina on Saturday and told her he’d be home by July 4.

“I worried a lot at the beginning of the war, but now I thought, ëIt’s over, he’s coming home,’ " Sutton said.

Then a grenade launcher malfunctioned in Iraq on Tuesday, killing Channell, 36, and two other U.S. Marines. Channell was the first West Alabama casualty in the war with Iraq and the fifth from Alabama.

Trying to become more familiar with the weapon, the soldiers had fired the rocket-propelled grenade launcher in a remote area near the southern city of Kut, the U.S. Central Command said Wednesday. Seven other Marines were injured.

Wednesday morning, Sutton walked back and forth between the den and front porch of her daughter’s home just off Crescent Ridge Road.

Inside, family members sat on a wraparound sofa sharing a box of tissues while holding framed photographs of Channel in front of television cameras.

Outside, the men stood on the wooden porch, speaking only occasionally and in soft tones as they comforted the grieving mother.

Sutton said that her son had been loading grenades onto a truck when the accident happened. He was in a USMC transportation unit in charge of maintenance.

“We really don’t know what happened," said his stepfather Mark Sutton. “They don’t really tell you much."

Saturday night, Channell had called his wife, Joyce Middlebrooks Channell, and his 4-year-old daughter, Bethany, at their home on the Camp Lejeune military base in North Carolina.

“He told her that everything would be fine and not to worry," said his brother-in-law Phillip Woolbright.

His sister, Tammy Woolbright, said that she and her family members supported the war.

“The reason he joined the Marines was to fight for our freedom," she said.

“He told us he had to go because he didn’t want us to live in fear," his mother said.

Channell grew up in Tuscaloosa County and attended Brookwood High School.

“Rob was a Marine. He lived it and studied it. It was an honor for him," Mark Sutton said. “He was proud to be a Marine. He was proud to be an American."

Channell’s dream was to retire from the Marine Corps, buy land in Tuscaloosa, build a house and start a business, said Tammy Woolbright.

“He was very proud to be from Alabama and Tuscaloosa," she said.

Channell had been in Iraq since Feb. 7. His family had arranged for him to receive copies of The Tuscaloosa News while there.

From his camp, he enjoyed being able to keep up with news here, Tammy Woolbright said.

“He just loved the people here. He was a good ol’ boy," she said. “He was proud to be a part of Tuscaloosa County."

During football seasons, Woolbright said she would send videotapes of University of Alabama football games to Channell’s home in North Carolina, which she said he enjoyed watching even without the play-by-play commentary by Eli Gold.

He had a dog named Bama and planned to pursue a business administration degree at UA with the tuition provided by the USMC.

Eva Sutton last saw Channell when he visited for Christmas. The son, who called his mother every Sunday night, didn’t tell them then that he was anticipating deployment.

“I think he knew; he just didn’t tell us," she said. “He was a good husband, a good father and a great son.

“I just want everybody to be as proud of him as we are."