It was one year ago today that Nick Popaditch smoked a cigar in downtown Baghdad 
   as people toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein behind him. It was two days ago that
   the Terre Haute native was seriously injured after being hit by enemy fire while 
   inside a tank in Fallujah, west of Baghdad.

   Today, he is being treated for injuries to his face and the possible loss of his 
   right eye in a hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. The gunnery sergeant was traveling 
   in an M1A1 Abrams tank with Charlie Company, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division 
   when it came under fire about 3:30 a.m. (EST) Wednesday. The tank was hit on its side 
   by a rocket-propelled grenade, said Maj. Dan Smith from a Marine base in 
   Twentynine Palms,Calif.

   Attacks against U.S. and coalition forces have escalated in the past several weeks. 
   At least four Marines have been killed this week in Fallujah after attacks by 
   Sunni militants, according to Associated Press reports.

   Nick Popaditch first was taken to the 31st Combined Surgical Hospital in Baghdad 
   before preparations for his transfer to Germany began about 10 p.m. Wednesday, Smith said.
   Smith notified April Popaditch early Thursday morning of her husband's injuries. 
   She was en route Thursday to the Twentynine Palms base from a mountain retreat where she 
   and her son, Nicholas, had been staying, said his mother, Dolores Popaditch of 
   Terre Haute.

   Whether his wife will travel to Germany to be by Popaditch's side depends on doctors' 
   assessments of his condition, Smith said. Medical personnel have to establish 
   if Nick Popaditch is well enough to receive visitors and how long he needs to stay 
   in Germany, Smith said.

   Cable news channels on Thursday ran footage of the attack, in which family members 
   could see the 36-year-old escaping the tank. No one else in Charlie Company was 
   seriously injured, Smith said.
   
   "It's hard. We kept seeing him," said sister Gina Alexander of Wheatfield. 
   She saw her younger brother crawl out of the tank and lay his head down. 
   She then saw him lying in a gurney with his head wrapped in bandages.
   "If I had seen that before I knew he was all right ... ," Dolores Popaditch said. 
   "It's looking better than what we thought."

   An Associated Press photo of Nick Popaditch sitting atop a tank and smoking a cigar 
   made several U.S. newspapers on April 10, 2003, the day troops rolled into Baghdad. 
   At the time, he was a staff sergeant with Bravo Company.

   He was shocked that he was featured in so many papers, his mother said Thursday. 
   Nick Popaditch came home from the seven-month tour in July. He went back a few 
   months ago with Charlie Company because they needed him. He didn't have to go back 
   to Iraq at that time, she said. "He's a dedicated Marine. He loves the Marine Corps," 
   she said, adding he also served a seven-month tour in Desert Storm.

   Nick Popaditch joined the Marine Corps in 1986, after less than a semester of 
   college at Indiana State University. The youngest of five children, he graduated 
   in 1985 from Terre Haute North Vigo High School, where he was an honor student.

   "I'm just glad he's out of Iraq," Dolores Popaditch said. "I feel sorry for those 
   that are still there."

Webmaster's note: below is a previous article about Terre Haute native Nick Popaditch

 

 
 By Richard Guzmán 
 The Desert Sun 
 April 10, 2003



 It was an unforgettable image that appeared on TV screens across the world, 
 encompassing the momentous events on the 21st day of the war in Iraq. 
 A larger-than-life statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled by U.S. Marines 
 and then beheaded by the Iraqi  people. Inside the M88 Tank Recovery 
 Vehicle pulling the statue to the ground were Marines from the Twentynine Palms base.
 
 April Popaditch was screaming with joy at the Twentynine Palms post office early 
 Wednesday morning when she got a call from her husband, Staff Sgt. Nick Popaditch 
 of the 1st Task Battalion. He was there when the statue was ripped apart.

 "I’m in Baghdad, in the middle of Baghdad," she said he told her. He described 
 the scene around him: People cheering the troops, shaking their hands and clapping.
 "This is great. Man, I’m so glad to be a part of it," he told her." I was just so proud,
 " she said.

 She said that feeling resonates among other wives of Marines with the 1st Tank Battalion.
 "Everyone is on top of the world. Everyone feels good," April Popaditch said.
 She wasn’t the only wife on the base who talked to her husband as U.S. troops 
 gained control of Baghdad.

 A call came late Tuesday night to Denise Lambert from her husband, Gunnery Sgt. Leon Lambert
 of the 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division attached to the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines 
 out of Twentynine Palms. "Baby, that was my tank. I love you so much, your husband’s a hero,
 she said he told her, using a reporter’s phone. He said his tank crew attached a chain to
 the statue and pulled it to the ground. 

"I’m so excited for him. I’ve been trying to tape it but I haven’t been able to," 
 she said Wednesday night as she gathered with about five other wives of Marines 
 from the 1st Tank Battalion.

 One of her husband’s crew members, who was identified by The Associated Press 
 as Lance Cpl. Edward Chin, almost caused an international incident when he climbed 
 onto the statue and placed an American flag over the face of the statue.

 According to published news reports, Iraqis at the scene quietly gasped at what 
 they saw as a sign of occupation rather than liberation. The flag was soon removed 
 and replaced with an Iraqi flag. Chin’s actions didn’t surprise Lambert. 
 She said she’s met him a few times and described Chin as a quiet guy 
 who usually answers the battalion’s phone at the base. "I thought it was kind of funny,"
 she said.

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