Roadside bomb injures Blue Hill Marine in Iraq

BLUE HILL – A U.S. Marine from Blue Hill is recovering in Germany after he was injured in Iraq earlier this week when a roadside bomb exploded beneath the vehicle he was driving.

Cpl. Brian D. Smith Jr., 23, the son of Brian and Cindy Smith, has been in Iraq since March and was scheduled to return to the States in November.

Some of the details of the bombing are classified, including exactly where the bomb attack took place, according to Smith’s mother, who spoke Friday from her home in Blue Hill. The family was notified of his injuries on Wednesday.

A 2001 graduate of George Stevens Academy, Smith serves with the 25th Marine unit and had spent most of his time in Iraq escorting convoys. That was what he was doing when the explosion occurred, according to Cindy Smith.

“He was in a Humvee, and Brian was driving,” she said. “They were clearing the way for a medical unit when they were hit by a roadside bomb.”

Brian was seriously injured in his right arm. Shrapnel from the bomb and metal pieces from the door and floor of the vehicle severed a major artery in the arm, his mother said.

“I understand he was stuck inside for a while, but someone stopped the bleeding. They were able to do that,” she said.

The young Marine has had one operation in Iraq in which surgeons used a portion of an artery from his leg to repair the damaged artery in his arm, Cindy Smith said. He was then evacuated by air to Germany.

Members of the family, which, in addition to his parents, includes Smith’s wife, Jennifer, and his two children, daughter, Raine, 8, and son, Haven, 7 months, his brother, Damien, and sister, Tiffany, were able to talk with Brian by telephone in Germany.

“He was heavily sedated, but he responded,” his mother said. “He said they were managing his pain the best they could. And he said he believed he would have to change his job now. So there was a little joking there. That’s a good sign.”

Smith is expected to be flown from Germany to the U.S. sometime next week, although she was unable to say where he will be taken. He faces four more surgeries to repair the damage to his arm. The military will fly his wife and children to the U.S. hospital, and his parents plan to drive there in order to visit him.

It is uncertain whether he will be able to return home between surgeries or whether he will have to remain hospitalized.

“We’re just thanking God that he’s coming home alive,” Cindy Smith said.

When he does return to Blue Hill, the local American Legion Post and the Legion Auxiliary are planning a “welcome home” celebration at the Legion Hall.