For Release
April 7, 2003

Deployed alumni

Memorial funds to honor Citadel graduates
killed in action in Iraq

          Memorial funds have been established at The Citadel to remember two graduates who died during military service in Iraq, The Citadel Foundation announced today.

          Marine Lt. Therrel Shane Childers graduated in 2001 from the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program (MECEP) with a French degree. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, at Camp Pendleton, Calif. His death March 21 is thought to be the first U.S. casualty of the war in Iraq. A gift to the Childers fund will help a future MECEP student.

          On Saturday, April 5, Marine Capt. Benjamin Wilson Sammis, a Cobra helicopter pilot, was killed in action. While at The Citadel, Sammis was a member of Kilo Company and majored in civil engineering. The Marine Corps commissioned him upon his graduation from The Citadel in 1996. Sammis was assigned to the HMLA-267 Unit in Camp Pendleton, Calif.

          Stacey Sammis requests that in lieu of flowers, friends remember her husband by contributing to the memorial fund, which will help a future cadet who wants to become a Marine.

          Gifts can be made to either "Sammis Memorial Fund" or the "Childers Memorial Fund" online at www.citadel.edu/tcf or mailed to The Citadel Foundation, 171 Moultrie Street, Charleston, SC 29409. For more information, call 843-953-5297.

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