
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Marine Cpl. Nathaniel T. Hammond realized his dream of military service and would not have regretted dying while serving in Iraq, family and friends in his Ozarks hometown said.
Hammond, 24, whose family lives in Brighton, was among three members of a Marine Reserve battalion killed Monday in Iraq’s Babil province, the Defense Department said. The deaths were attributed to enemy action, but details were not provided.
The eldest son in a family of five boys and one girl, Hammond graduated from Pleasant Hope High School in 1998 and joined the Marine Corps soon after, his brother Joshua Hammond said Tuesday.
Joshua Hammond described his brother...