War Stories Database
"My lifestyle is my deathstyle"
By Melanie Smith-mother
Service Date: 11-15-04
Marine Cpl. Lance McGregor Thompson 3-26-83 KIA 11-15-04 Lance considered himself a typical boy, walking along life''s path while whistling to Hank Williams, Jr.''s song "A Country Boy Can Survive." He always had this ornery smile with a gleam in his eyes. It is the loving life and all the excitement life had to give. Lance loved his family, friends, and country. His smile told so much about him. His mother remembers that five of Thompson''s birthday cakes when he was young had military themes. Thompson, his brothers, and cousins were obsessed with guns, airplanes, adventure, and fighting the bad guys. They always wanted to be the good guys. It was no surprise, to his friends or family then, when Thompson signed a year early for the U.S. Marine Corps during his junior year at Eastbrook High School. Dedicated and determined to get started, Lance enlisted with two fellow Eastbrook graduates. They left for Boot Camp in September 2001. Thompson was then stationed with 2nd Battalion 5th Marines as a Field Radio Communications Operator at Camp Pendleton, California. Thompson''s first 7 month tour was the invasion of Iraq 2003. Lance left for his second tour in Iraq the 1st of September, 2004. He was stationed with the 2nd Battalion 5th Marines, Weapons Company at Hurricane Point (a former palace) in the city of Ar Ramadi, Al-Anbar Province, Iraq. Lance was Radio Communications Operator for his unit''s Captain. During his last call home, on Friday. November 12, 2004, Thompson stated he was good but very tired. He stated that they had been going out about three to four times a day to look for the bad guys. In one of Thompson''s last comments that day to his family he stated, "I''m here so everyone there can be safe at home. So they can sleep safe at night. I don''t want this coming home." Lance felt he was there so that all people (no matter where they lived) could have the freedom to do what they wanted to do, say the things they wanted to say, and be who they wanted to be. Thompson told his family "Freedom isn''t free, and we have a price to pay for it." Lance was always "Gung Ho" about his beliefs; so much so he wore the "Gung Ho" symbol tattooed on his left wrist. While the world was watching Fallajah, Americans were fighting and dying in bitter street to street battles with insurgents in other parts of Iraq. Kirk Spitzer (CBS News) was with the 2nd Marines in Ramadi, the heart of the resistance, and spoke to the Captain of Thompson''s unit. Cpt. Pat Rapicault had warned Spitzer that the enemy was adapting and sure enough, as the Marines got better with avoiding IED''s, the insurgents turned to suicide bombers. Then late on November 15, as they headed back to base, the enemy caught up with them. A suicide bomber pulled up alongside and in an instant Cpl. Lance Thompson was dead, along with Cpl. Pat Rapicault, and Cpl. Marc Ryan. Marine Cpl. Shiloh Benton wrote the following account of the events of 15, November 2004. There were two other platoons out there that day. Many people were there and witnessed everything. I went to the guys in the different platoons and investigated. I got their first hand accounts of the incident and filled in the blanks when I spoke to LCpl. Ben Nelson, the gunner and survivor in Thompson''s vehicle. I was at the firm base and left my hooch to write my wife. Before I could log on a blast shook the windows and building. I was approximately a half-mile from the seat of the explosion. I was ordered to go get on the radios. I found out that Whiskey 1 and Whiskey 2 were out escorting the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit (E.O.D.) back to base. Of course Cpt. Rapicault''s (Whiskey 6) truck was with them which included Thompson on radio communications. The guys had been out all day. They''d actually been having a blast. All day it was crazy but everyone was having fun. It seemed like relatively light enemy contact. The convoy was returning to Hurricane Point going down Route Michigan, the most deadly road in Ramadi. Whiskey I was leading, followed by Whiskey 6, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit (E.O.D.), and when Whiskey 2. Beside the convoy was a white car with a single driver. There was nothing out of the ordinary about this vehicle. A Suicide Vehicle Born Improvised Explosive Device (SVBIED) will usually be weighed down in the trunk. It may have a fresh paint job and no back seat. This car had no indication that it was what it was. However, everyone had a bad feeling about it. A Sgt. in Whiskey 5 had been along with the convoy that day. He stated he called back to the rest of the convoy and told them to watch for that vehicle. He was giving a warning but couldn''t determine what was wrong with the car. A Cpl. from Whiskey 1 said he saw the car pass his vehicle and move up the convoy. He wanted to give a warning too but felt he was being suspicious. He told me he''ll always regret not doing something. The white vehicle pulled next to Whiskey 6 (carrying Thompson). The guys (in the truck) were aware of it and Cpt. Rapicault was yelling at the gunner, Nelson, to give a signal to the driver of the white car to move away. The driver, Ryan, punched on the gas and swerved away from the car. Nelson started to rise, his back to the car when it detonated. Nelson said the car was maybe ten feet from them. Others say the vehicle nosed in on Thompson''s truck then detonated on the passenger side. I, for one, don''t know for sure. That evening I paced. I sat on Lance''s rack and patted his pillow. We lit his lamp it just didn''t seem right not to have it lit. One of Lance''s best friends while in Iraq was the gunner who rode with Lance every day. LCpl Ben Nelson stated that the last thing he remembers that day was seeing a Rocket Propelled Grenade go off close to their truck. Nelson said he looked down at Lance who was looking up at him with his huge smile. That smile always had a little stuck in there. Complied by Melanie Smith-mother *Lance kept a journal while he was in Iraq. Inside the front Lance wrote "My Lifestyle is my Deathstyle" Contributing accounts: Sarah Hughes (Editor in Chief Carmel High School HiLite), Marine Cpl. Shiloh Benton and Marine LCpl. Ben Nelson (2nd Battalion 5th Marines, Weapons Co.) Kirk Spitzer (CBS 60 Minutes, "Under Fire"), and Kimberly Dozer (CBS)
