Skip to main content
Wednesday, November 11, 2026Nov 11
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

Marines, widows lay wreaths at memorial for July 16 fallen

Angie Smith, right, widow of Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith, and Sgt. Demonte Chieeley listen as Taps is played Wednesday, December 9, 2015, at the Lee Highway memorial
Angie Smith, right, widow of Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith, and Sgt. Demonte Chieeley listen as Taps is played Wednesday, December 9, 2015, at the Lee Highway memorial Angie Smith, right, widow of Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith, and Sgt. Demonte Chieeley listen as Taps is played Wednesday, December 9, 2015, at the Lee Highway memorial

By Shelly Bradbury 2 min read

The soft sound of taps blended with the rush of traffic along Lee Highway on Wednesday, as Marines and widows of the men who died on July 16 gathered to lay wreaths at a memorial.

Under a gray sky that threatened rain, 1st Sgt. Darryl Rush shouted the names and ranks of the five fallen men: Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, Sgt. Carson Holmquist, Lance Cpl. Squire “Skip” Wells and Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith.

With each name, a Marine or widow added a wreath to the memorial, which stands across from the military recruiting center on Lee Highway, where a 24-year-old gunman began his attack on two Chattanooga military facilities on July 16.

The shooter injured one Marine at the recruiting center before driving to the U.S. Naval and Marine Reserve Center on Amnicola Highway, where he killed four Marines and mortally wounded Smith.

The five wreaths placed at the memorial were some of about 80,000 wreaths packed into a caravan of tractor-trailers headed to veterans’ cemeteries across the Southeast.