Chattanooga-area Marine survives bomb blast in Afghanistan

U.S. Marine Pvt. 1st Class Brandon Kyle Pendergrass was injured Saturday in an Afghanistan bomb blast. Contributed Photo

When his family got the phone call Saturday telling them that U.S. Marine Pfc. Brandon Kyle Pendergrass had been injured in an Afghanistan bomb blast, only one thing stuck out from the flood of information they received.

“He is alive. That’s the big deal,” grandmother Judy Green said Monday.

“That was an early birthday present,” said Green, who will celebrate her 70th birthday Saturday.

Pendergrass, 21 and a 2009 graduate of Meigs County High School, was injured July 16 while riding in a four-vehicle convoy, according to his mother, Mollie Childs, who now has talked to her son a handful of times since the first call about 3 p.m. Saturday.

Pendergrass was guarding detainees in a seven-ton tactical vehicle known as an armadillo when it rolled over an improvised explosive device, his mother said.