Nolen R. Hutchings

Rank/Branch: Pvt./Marines
Unit: 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Camp Lejeune
Age: 19
Date of Birth
Home City of Record: Boiling Springs, S.C
Date of Loss: 23 March 2003
Country of Loss: Iraq
Loss Coordinates: Combat near An Nasiriyah
Status: MIA/Iraq __ Declared dead_DOD report April 13, 2003
Category:
Acft/Vehicle/Ground:
Personnel in Incident: Lance Cpl. Thomas A. Blair, Pfc. Tamario D. Burkett, Cpl. Kemaphoom A. Chanawongse, Lance Cpl. Donald J. Cline Pvt. Jonathan L. Gifford, Pvt. Nolen R. Hutchings, Lance Cpl. Patrick R. Nixon, Sgt. Brendon C. Reiss, Lance Cpl. Michael J. Williams

Source: Compiled by Last Firebase Veterans Archives Project from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Date Updated: April 13, 2003

REMARKS:
Carolyn Hutchings was falling asleep in her favorite chair when a soft knocking at the door stirred her. She cleared her eyes, looked up, and saw the two Marines at her door, "all dressed up," she said. "And you know what that means."
"I'd seen it on TV," Hutchings said of the formal military visitors. "It's just like the movies. It's an awful feeling. I was by myself. I called my husband and paced around the house and went crazy."
She let them into the house in Boiling Springs, S.C., and listened to them say that the status of her son, Pvt. Nolen Ryan Hutchings, 20, of Boiling Springs, had become "duty, status, whereabouts unknown" somewhere in Iraq.
In other words, she said, "he is missing in action."
Hutchings said the Marines told her that her son was part of a group that was told to secure a bridge near Nasiriyah, and that they encountered what appeared to be Iraqi civilians seeking to surrender but were surprised when the men opened fire.
"They had uniforms underneath their clothes," Hutchings said she was told. "Eleven soldiers were killed. Eight soldiers ran to a more secure area. No one has seen them since."
Hutchings said her son always wanted to be a Marine, working out with weights in his junior and senior years at Boiling Springs High School to prepare. She said he has "a big heart," so big that he would give away treats to friends until he had none.
"From what I hear about the people who took him, the fedayeen, they kill people," she said. "I am praying. I want to have hope."

U.S. Veteran Dispatch
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