Via Daily Mail and Mass Live:

GUNNERY SGT THOMAS J SULLIVAN
Active duty
From: Hampden, Massachusetts
Entered service: September 1997
Occupation: Field artillery cannoneer
Deployments: Iraq (September 2007 to April 2008, September 2004 to April 2005)

Sullivan, from Springfield, Massachusetts served two tours of duty in Iraq, survived the battle of Abu Ghraib and was a two-time Purple Heart recipient.

Sullivan’s brother Joe is a pub owner in their hometown, and wrote a post on the bar’s website in honor of his fallen sibling after hearing the terrible news.

‘He was our hero and he will never be forgotten. Please keep his family & friends in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you Tommy for protecting us,’ the post reads.

As the family mourns Sullivan’s passing, his brother has asked residents in their community to lower their American flags to half mast.

‘There’s no Marine you would want that was better in combat than him,’ Sullivan’s friend, Josh Parnell, told Patch. ‘He’d been shot at so many times over the years and then for this to happen at home in the United States.’

A woman claiming to be a friend of Sullivan’s on Twitter shared a picture of the sergeant in his uniform next to two Purple Hearts, writing: ‘RIP GySgt Thomas Sullivan, it was an honor knowing you and knowing you’re the reason why my mom would smile.’

Sullivan was one of three children to Jerry and Betty Sullivan and graduated from Springfield’s Cathedral High School before joining the military.

He was a hero right to the end.

Known as “Gunny” to his fellow Marines, Sullivan “died a hero yesterday,” Marine Sgt. Amanda Vincent told Sullivan’s family, who gathered Friday at the Hampden home of his parents.

“The only thing on his mind was if his Marines were OK. He had a chance to jump the fence and run, but instead he ran back to make sure (I) and the others inside and the Marines that were shot were OK,” Vincent said in a message to the Sullivan family.

“He will be missed terribly and I’m truly happy I had the chance to know him,” she said.

Sullivan and another Marine were about to enter the Navy Operational Support Center in Chattanooga when they were warned that the gunman was exiting.

“They ran back to the Marines outside and (Sullivan) made sure they all jumped over the fence and got away,” Vincent said.

Sullivan and the other Marine were the last two who needed to jump the fence. The other Marine scaled the fence, but when he looked back, “Gunny was gone,” Vincent said. Sullivan had instead gone to help other wounded Marines before he also sustained fatal injuries.