Father of local Marine killed in Chattanooga talks about son's death

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — One of the Marines killed in the Chattanooga shooting is from Burke County, officials said.

Staff Sgt. David A Wyatt was a father of two young children.

Wyatt lived in Burke County before enlisting in 2004. He deployed three times to serve the county, including twice to Iraq.

Eyewitness News anchor Blair Miller spoke with Wyatt's father, Allen Wyatt, Friday by phone.     

The last time he spoke with his son was Monday, and now he's in Chattanooga.

Family members remember David Wyatt as a loving father of two who also loved his country.
 
David Wyatt was born in Morganton, attended Piedmont Community College north of Durham and joined the U.S. Marines because of 9/11.

His father recently lived in Charlotte and told Miller how he heard the tragic news of his son's death in Chattanooga.

"First from my daughter in California, who saw this on the news that there had been a shooting in Chattanooga, and we looked and checked where it was and discovered it was in my son's unit," Allen Wyatt said.
 
He feared the worst, because his son was part of a small unit.
 
Wyatt served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan and came back wanting to be a career Marine.
 
Wyatt's family was thrilled that he was assigned in Chattanooga, where they thought he couldn't be safer.

"This was expected to be the safest place in America," the father said. "My son and the other three men who died are all cornerstones of America and a deep loss for us all. I'm sorry."
 
But as his father reflects on his son's life, he recalls a challenge from his son while serving in Afghanistan.

Wyatt recalls his son running in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C.

"We were all very proud to be able to be able to do that with David when he made it back from Afghanistan, home," the father said.

Wyatt said his son lost a lot of people in his unit in Afghanistan and Iraq, but his son was never injured.

The father said his son took pride on taking care of the people under him.

Neighbors told Channel 9 the family moved to Florida earlier this year.

Donna Tate said she was heartbroken when she saw a van full of Marines driving down her street.

"The Marines came to our street and parked on the street, and three of them, dressed, came out of the van. They were driving in their dress uniforms with their portfolio, and from experience, I knew they were bringing some kind of tragic news to the family,” Tate said.

Fallen Marines identified

The Marine Corps has identified all four men killed in the attack on the military facilities in Tennessee.

They were identified Friday by the Marines as Gunnery Sgt. Thomas J. Sullivan of Hampden, Massachusetts; Staff Sgt. David A. Wyatt of Burke, North Carolina; Sgt. Carson A. Holmquist of Polk, Wisconsin; and Lance Cpl. Squire K. Wells of Cobb County, Georgia, who a family spokesman says went by "Skip."

Sullivan was deployed twice during the Iraq war and received two Purple Hearts. Wyatt was deployed during both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, while Holmquist was deployed to Afghanistan.

WSOC