Wounded Seabee home for the holidays

A grave but fortunate wound

By JOSHUA NORMAN

jdnorman@sunherald.com

One Gulfport-based Seabee's fortune changed in a flash about three weeks ago.

One minute, Chief William Bell, 34, was working with a crew on some wiring for a Marine outpost in Anbar province, Iraq.

The next minute the Seabee from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74 and three others were thrown against a building after a mortar landed just a few feet away.

Despite the pain, fear and sadness - two corpsmen died from the blast and Bell was lucky to be saved - a bit of positive energy came from that explosion.

Bell arrives in Gulfport today to spend Christmas in his home with his wife, Tamara, and 9-year-old daughter, Brooke.

Bell insists, however, he would head back to Iraq in a second if his wounds allowed it.

"I'm ready to rock and roll," Bell said. "But I don't mind a little break, spending a little time home with family."