Eric and Patty Bruckenthal listen to a prayer given by a Coast Guard chaplain during a memorial service held in honor of their son, Nathan Bruckenthal at Coast Guard Station Eaton's Neck, N.Y., April 24, 2009.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan Bruckenthal was killed in action at the Khawr Al Amay Oil Terminal off the coast of Iraq on April 24 2004. He was killed in a terrorist-suicide bombing when a dhow that he and his team intercepted near the terminal exploded. The explosion overturned the boarding team's rigid hull inflatable, killing Bruckenthal and two U.S. Navy sailors. Another Coast Guardsman, Petty Officer 3rd Class Joseph Ruggierio, and three other Navy personnel were wounded. Both Coast Guardsmen were members of LEDET 403, which had been deployed as part of Coast Guard Patrol Forces Southwest Asia. The team was attached to the USS Firebolt (PC-10).
Bruckenthal was the first Coast Guardsmen killed in combat since the Vietnam War.
(U.S. Coast Guard photo/PA3 Annie R. Berlin)
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