Family relieved by local soldier’s fate/12-4
Lakota East grad shot in ambush in Fallujah

Saturday, December 04, 2004

By Benjamin Poston

Cox News Services

WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP — All it took was a touch to her face.

Following a Nov. 22 burial at Arlington National Cemetery, Monroe resident Debbie Ethridge met the mother of Brian Medina, a Marine Lance Cpl. killed Nov. 12 during an ambush in Fallujah.

Her son, Marine Cpl. Andrew Ethridge, a 1999 Lakota East High School graduate, was severely wounded in the same fire fight.

“It’s hard when your son is going to be OK but you know she’s grieving,” Debbie Ethridge said. “Brian’s mom touched my face and said ‘I’m glad your son is alive. You be happy he’s alive.’ It’s almost as if she gave me permission to go on with my life. You realize how blessed you really are.”

The Ethridge family is counting every blessing now that Andrew Ethridge is recovering in a military hospital at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe.

While his unit was raiding homes in northeast Fallujah, Andrew Ethridge, 23, was attacked by insurgents and was struck with a bullet to his right thigh as he tried to pull Medina and Lance Cpl. David Branning from the line of fire.

Medina and Branning were the 10th and 11th members of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force killed in Iraq since it arrived there in October.

“They opened a gate to a courtyard and were assaulted with AK-47 fire. Brian and David had been hit. They don’t leave anybody behind and of course Andrew wanted to get them. That’s when (Andrew) realized he had been shot,” Debbie Ethridge said.

Medina’s family came to Andrew Ethridge’s hospital room where he described to them how their son died and his bravery. Medina and Ethridge were roommates in Okanawa, Japan, before being deployed.

“It gave them closure. Most families don’t get closure because they never find out what happens to their loved ones,” Debbie Ethridge said.

On Nov. 13, David Ethridge received a call from his teary-eyed son who had been evacuated to Lundstuhl, Germany.

“When my husband picked up the phone, my heart stopped because I knew they were in the thick of things (in Fallujah). He told us he was fine between the tears,” Debbie Ethridge said.

Recommended for a purple heart, Andrew Ethridge is on crutches and is making a steady recovery at the base, his mother said.

“Andrew’s wound was so gapingly large, it required a lot of in-patient treatment. The swelling has gone down a lot, there’s a lot of flesh and muscle to be repaired. He’s hoping for convalescent leave before Christmas, but he told us not to hold our breath,” she said.

While a Lakota student, Andrew Ethridge attended D. Russell Lee’s automotive technology program. From there he attended the Universal Technical Institute in Illinois.

A close friend since they rode the bus together in the seventh grade, 1999 Lakota East graduate Natalie Herold invited Andrew Ethridge to be a groomsman at her wedding in 2001. The tragic events of 9/11 prompted him to join the Marines, Herold said.

“His first comment to me after 9/11 was ‘This is what I can do to protect my family,’” said Herold of Fairfield. “I’m so proud of what he did but I hate to hear that he’s hurt. He’s out there trying to protect us and he made sacrifices.”

His mother agreed.

“He came home the night of 9/11 and was so upset. He felt patriotic and wanted to do something for his country. There was a challenge that he was looking for and felt he could do better good,” she said.

Once Herold finds out when her old friend is coming home, she plans to be at his house before he arrives. The Marine has never met Herold’s 5-month-old son, Bradan.

“I want him to see my boys,” she said.