SEQUIM — Lance Cpl. Matt Ward was looking to do more with his life when he joined the Marines a little more than two years ago.
Now, after weeks of ground fighting and patrolling the streets of Baghdad, Iraq, 21-year-old Ward describes his first combat experience as life-changing.
“It kind of opens your eyes to how the world is,” Ward said from his home in Sequim.
“You realize how good America is. It gives you a really good feeling. It makes you want to fight for what you have.”
Ward arrived in Sequim on May 24 and is among the first service members from the North Olympic Peninsula returning home from Iraq.
He is spending his down time at home until June 12, when he returns to Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif.
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The rest of the story appears in Tuesday’s Peninsula Daily News. Click on SUBSCRIBE, above, to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.
