NEAH BAY — After Nathan B. Bruckenthal arrived at U.S. Coast Guard Station Neah Bay three years ago, he threw himself into his work — and into the community — say those who knew him.
When he wasn’t fixing heaters or checking on the plumbing inside Coast Guard housing, the petty officer volunteered as a Neah Bay Public Safety reserve police officer and firefighter, and as an assistant high school football coach.
“The community just kind of accepted him, and they accepted him with unconditional love, because that’s what he had for the community,” Neah Bay High School Athletic Director Ron Johnson said Tuesday.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Bruckenthal, 24, was killed Saturday in an attack on an Iraqi oil terminal in the Persian Gulf while serving his second stint in Iraq, the government reported.
He is the first Coast Guardsman to die in combat since the Vietnam War, Coast Guard officials said.
Two U.S. Navy sailors aboard the Navy boat with Bruckenthal were also killed in Saturday’s suicide bombing attack.