Last Rest for 'Doc' Funeral for hospital corpsman killed in Iraq draws about 500
The corpsman, Petty Officer 3rd Class Chris Thompson, was buried with military honors yesterday.
By Monte Mitchell
JOURNAL REPORTER
NORTH WILKESBORO - In the black hell of an Iraqi explosion and fire-fight, blood flowed from the eyes of Marine Lance Cpl. Michael Jernigan. "I was wandering around screaming, 'I can't see, where's my rifle?'" Jernigan said.
A Navy hospital corpsman tackled and gave him the initial treatment that saved his life, doctors would later tell Jernigan.
The corpsman, Petty Officer 3rd Class Chris Thompson, was buried with military honors yesterday.
"Chris saved my life," Jernigan said outside the church. "He was one of the best men I've ever met. I'm standing here because of him."
An honor guard of sailors and Marines presented a 21-gun salute at Mountlawn Memorial Gardens. A bugler played taps.
Flags were given to Thompson's parents, Larry and Geraldine Thompson, and to his brothers, David Thompson, also a Navy hospital corpsman, and Jimmy Epley.
"He was a good boy," Larry Thompson said to friends, as they hugged him after the service.
Chris Thompson, 25, of Millers Creek, died Oct. 21, in his second tour in Iraq. An improvised explosive device was set off as his armored Humvee passed by on a road near Al Amariyah, west of Baghdad.
Also killed was Marine Lance Cpl. Kenneth Butler, 19, of Landis, Capt. Tyler Swisher, 35, of Cincinnati, and Cpl. Benny "Gray" Cockerham III, 21, of Conover, were thrown from the vehicle into a nearby canal. Their bodies were later pulled from the water.
About 500 people packed Peace Haven Baptist Church for Thompson's funeral, including about 70 people representing each branch of the military.
Many people lined the road outside and held small U.S. flags. Lois Royal, and her children Christina, 15, Dustin, 13, and Lance, 6, never knew Thompson but stood there for nearly two hours.
"I have a brother in the Army," Lois Royal said. "I want to show support for the military."
At the church service, David Thompson's wife, Mellisa, a corpsman in the Navy Reserves, offered a tribute to her brother-in-law.
"I can remember at our wedding that Chris was always hugging me," she said. "He said he'd always wished for a sister."
She started to cry, but then drew a laugh.
"And after being around Jimmy and David, I can see why," she said.
People wept when her daughter Eva sang "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Friends and family have talked again and again this past week about how funny Chris Thompson was.
The funeral was somber and tearful for the most part, but Mellisa Thompson broke the tension again by revealing the family's silly nickname for Chris: Poopeyhead.
To his many nieces and nephews, he was Uncle Poopeyhead.
He had other names or titles, she counted aloud: sailor, student, athlete, Viking at North Wilkes High School, mentor and coach.
The name he carried with pride, she said, was one he chose by becoming a corpsman: Doc.
Doc Thompson won the Navy and Marine Commendation with Valor for his actions that saved Jernigan and other Marines. The incident happened during his first tour at 1:55 a.m. Iraqi time on Aug. 22, 2004.
Thompson was in a Humvee behind the one that carried Jernigan that day when an IED exploded.
Another Marine, Thompson's best friend, died in his arms. Another had a head injury. Another lost a leg. Another lost an arm.
Jernigan's skull was crushed. He was bleeding from his eye sockets and had a brain injury. His left kneecap was shattered. The femoral artery in his left leg was nicked.
Thompson put a tourniquet on Jernigan's leg to stop him from bleeding to death. He taped Jernigan's blown off fingers to his hand so they could be re-attached. He bandaged his head.
Jernigan is blind now. Yesterday, he wore sunglasses and carried a white cane with a red tip. He's from St. Petersburg, Fla., but traveled from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Inside the church, he kneeled in front of his pew, clasped his hands as he prayed, and then crossed himself.
"I wouldn't miss this for the world," he'd said minutes before. "Chris ... saved my life. The least I can do is show up for his funeral."
• Monte Mitchell can be reached in Wilkesboro at (336) 667-5691 or at mmitchell@wsjournal.com