DC3 Nathan Bruckenthal's Operation Iraqi Freedom Oral History Interview

DC3 Nathan Bruckenthal, USCG, was killed in action at the Khawr Al Amay Oil Terminal off the coast of Iraq on 24 April 2004. He was killed in a terrorist-suicide bombing when a dhow that he and his team intercepted near the terminal exploded. The explosion overturned the boarding team's rigid hull inflatable, killing Bruckenthal and two U.S. Navy sailors. Another Coast Guardsman, BM3 Joseph Ruggierio, and three other Navy personnel were wounded. Both Coast Guardsmen were members of LEDET 403, which had been deployed as part of Coast Guard Patrol Forces Southwest Asia. The team was attached to the USS Firebolt (PC-10). This was DC3 Bruckenthal's second tour of duty in Iraq. During his first deployment, PAC Peter Capelotti, USCGR, interviewed Bruckenthal while in Bahrain for the Coast Guard Historian's Office Iraqi Freedom Documentation Project. DC3 Bruckenthal was the first Coast Guardsmen killed in combat since the Vietnam War.