Although we have mentioned those killed in the Chattanooga attack previously, we wanted to take the time to run a post on each of the men today, to get to know them more and to honor them, as flags are lowered today to remember them.

Via Daily Mail:

Reservist on active duty operational support
Entered service: February 2014
From: Cobb, Georgia
Occupation: Field artillery cannoneer

Lance Cpl Skip Wells had wanted to be a Marine ever since he was a little boy, his girlfriend Caroline Dove told CNN in an eloquent interview on Friday.

Dove, who had been dating Wells for the past two and a half years, met her boyfriend while they were both studying history at Georgia State University.

‘We were both history majors and there was a connection just right off the bat. He knew what he had to do to make me happy and I knew what I had to do to make him happy and we were just compatible,’ she said. ‘It was great that we worked out for as long as we did.’

Since joining the military, Dove and Wells had been long-distance while Wells worked in Tennessee and Dove continued her education in Georgia.
She says the last time she saw her boyfriend was in February and that she had plans to visit him next week – a dream reunion that will now never happen.

Dove says that her boyfriend was proud to serve his country, and that his one ambition in life was to be remembered for service.

‘I know when we first met, he said, “You know, I’m going to be a Marine. That’s all I really want to do, that’s all I know and that’s all I love.”‘ Dove recalled.

Done says Wells spent a lot of time speaking with recruiters about the process of joining the Marines before he was officially sworn in last year – realizing his dream career.

Wells officially became a Marine on May 9, 2014, when he graduated from boot camp.

He beams proudly in pictures from the day on Facebook, embracing his girlfriend in one picture and beaming proudly next to his parents and mother (who also served in the Marines, according to friends) in another.

Dove is also an enlisted Marine, just weeks away from boot camp.

While the shooting has no doube been shaking, Dove says it has only strengthened her resolve to join the military.

‘Seeing as this has happened on our soil it has encouraged me to want this even more and I actually want to live out my life as a Marine and be able to do it for him because I know that’s what he wanted me to do.

‘He as truly honest, he was smart, he was loyal – just anything you could imagine in a good guy and a good Marine.

‘I’m gonna miss his funny little quirks…he always knew how to make me laugh, how to make me smile, how to make me feel better about anything,’ Dove said.

Garrett Reed, a longtime friend of Wells who has known him since the fourth grade, believes he wanted to join the military because of his family’s legacy of service.

‘He loves his country, his momma served in the military…I think he just wanted to follow in her footsteps,’ Reed said.

According to pictures posted to Facebook, he had recently returned from a trip to DisneyWorld with his mother.

Reed said he was shocked when he learned that his childhood friend had been killed in the terror attack on Thursday.

‘You hear about this kind of stuff on the news all the time and you just never think it can happen to one of your friends,’ Reed said.

In describing Wells’ personality, Reed said: ‘He was just a funny guy, real caring. Just a really nice guy, you just couldn’t find a nicer guy than him.’