Marines Testify About Shipboard Explosion

[thedrifter]

Marines Testify About Shipboard Explosion

By Associated Press
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. ? At a court-martial resulting from a shipboard explosion, Marines testified that a sergeant took an explosive shell in Iraq as a war trophy and discarded it in a trash can, where it blew up and wounded 10 people.

The most seriously injured Marine, Pfc. Michael R. Hayes, said Wednesday that he was packing for the trip home last May when he threw paper and old batteries into the trash can aboard the USS Saipan.

"I heard two of the batteries hit something metal," Hayes said. "I woke up three to four days later" in a U.S. military hospital. The explosion ripped apart his right arm. Doctors used his abdominal muscles to replace the lost tissue, though he still has no feeling in the arm, Hayes testifed.

Sgt. Mark S. Hoerber, 24, of Miami, is accused of bringing the explosive on board. He was also wounded by shrapnel, but he managed to pull an electrical cord from a computer and wrap it around Hayes' arm as a tourniquet.

Before the court-martial started Tuesday, Hoerber pleaded guilty to disobeying a general order against bringing explosives aboard the ship. He still faces charges of assault and damaging the Saipan.

Civilian defense attorney Neal Puckett said other people had such war trophies, and the military jury should make sure prosecutors prove the bomblet that exploded was the same one that Hoerber brought aboard.

The prosecution has "just one explanation of what happened (and) there are so many other explanations," Puckett said.

Sgt. Shane Elliott of Great Falls, Mont., testifed that he found the M-42 howitzer fragmentation round while walking with Hoerber outside a military camp in southern Iraq last April. Hoerber found a rusted, crushed Iraqi rifle magazine at the former Iraqi bunker destroyed during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and they traded, Elliott said.

Staff Sgt. Anthony L. Wetherall testified Hoerber showed him something similar to a corroded M42 shell in a ship's lounge three to four days before the explosion.

He "showed me something that didn't look right, and I told him to throw it over the side (of the ship) and not to put it in the trash," Wetherall said.

For his plea on disobeying an order, Hoerber could be sentenced to up to two years' confinement, forfeiture of all pay, a dishonorable discharge and reduction of rank. The sentence could grow to 10 years if he is convicted of the other charges.

The Saipan, based in Norfolk, Va., was one of seven ships that carried the 7,000-member 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade to Iraq. The Marines, from Camp Lejeune and the adjacent New River Marine Corps Air Station, returned home in June.

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On the Net:

New River Marine Corps Air Station: http://www.newriver.usmc.mil/

USS Saipan: http://www.saipan.navy.mil/

2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade: http://www.lejeune.usmc.mil/meb/

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...world-headlines


Ellie