in iraq saluted today in the city of springfield. my heart went down to my toes. i said my god. and i suppose when things hit home close to this area it affects you deeper. reporter: he was our hero and he will never be forgotten, thank you tommy for protecting us. from massachusetts governor charlie bake irer terror comes home to massachusetts, god bless tom sullivan and his family and his friends. sullivan s last day of duty spent in chattanooga, tennessee at the naval marine reserve center. his marine brothers by his side. sergeant carson holmquist from wisconsin served two tours of duty in afghanistan before he was killed here at home. he leaves behind a wife and son. the youngest victim lance corporal skip wells graduated three years ago from high school
safe and feel safe. should be. here is their story. reporter: gunnery sergeant thomas sullivan earned two purple hearts fighting the war in iraq. saluted today in the city of springfield, massachusetts. my heart went to my toes and said my god. i suppose which things hit home close to this area, it affects you a lot deeper. reporter: he was our hero, never be forgotten, thank you, tommy, for protecting us one wrote on massachusetts. from the massachusetts governor charlie baker. terror comes home to massachusetts. god bless tom sullivan and his family and his friends. sullivan s last day of duty spent in chattanooga, tennessee, at the naval marine reserve center. his marine brothers by his side. sergeant carson holmquist a decorated marine from wisconsin served two tours of duty in
dream for skip. he was just a go-getter. everything he did he put 100% into it. he was just positive about everything. ethan wade and robert young were in the rotc program with skip in high school. it has just been an emotional day. he was one of my good friends and showed me right from wrong and was just a mentor and a guide. i just can t believe it. bad things happen to good people. skill wells was only 21 years old. our home sweet home skip wells, thomas sullivan carson holmquist, david wyatt. we honor all of them tonight. just before we came to air i had a chance to speak to david wyatt s father allen. mr. wyatt, we re so sorry for your loss how are you holding
but also bear in mind the violence he committed in tennessee doesn t at this stage appear to have required particularly lengthy training like bomb-making, like other previous al qaeda attackers in the u.s. have had in the middle east. this is a man who got high-powered weapons and shot them at relatively open targets. that doesn t necessarily suggest he needed to go to a training camp so to speak. people will be asking to work out whether or not some sort of ideology or the idea for the crime was hatched here in the middle east while he was here. and the men he allegedly shot we re learning more about them so we want to share that with you now. thomas sullivan was originally from massachusetts. he joined the military in 97 and served three hours of duty and was a two-time purple heart recipient. staff sergeant david wyatt enlisted in the marines in 2004 and served in both iraq and afghanistan. carson holmquist served two tours in afghanistan. the wisconsin native had been in the mil
chattanooga chattanooga, tennessee. a sailor has become the fifth to die as a result of this week s attack on two military centers. abc news has confirmed naval petty officer randall smith died early this morning. the four marines who died thursday have also been identified. they are gunnery sergeant thomas sullivan lance corporal squire wells, staff sergeant david wyatt, and sergeant carson holmquist holmquist. their bodies were take tonen to dover air force base. they say mohammed youssuf abdulazeez had at least two long guns and a handgun when he sprayed a military recruitment station, drove seven miles to a navy and marines reserve center. joining me now is nbc news correspondent sarah dallof. sarah, what else do we know about the sailor who died this morning? reporter: well, good morning, melissa. this is just another heartbreaking chapter in this tragedy. petty officer randall smith was