Marine CWO Channell was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He was killed in a non-hostile accident with two other soldiers when a rocket-propelled grenade launcher they were firing for familiarization malfunctioned on a firing range near the city of Al Kut. Channell grew up wanting to join the armed forces and wound up making a 17-year career of the Marine Corps. He is remembered as a good father, a good husband, a good son. Robert married his high school sweetheart, Joyce, right after boot camp in 1986. The couple and their 5-year-old daughter planned to move to Japan or Hawaii for their last overseas tour. After retiring from the Marines, the family would have returned to Tuscaloosa, where Robert wanted to earn his bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama. Channell grew up in Tuscaloosa County and attended Brookwood High School. He was proud to be a Marine; he was proud to be an American. Channell's sister spent her life watching out for her younger brother. "He was 6-foot-something but I was always his protector because he was hurt at a very young age and people always stared so I was there to take care of him," Tammy Woolbright said.
Marine CWO Channell was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He was killed in a non-hostile accident with two other soldiers when a rocket-propelled grenade launcher they were firing for familiarization malfunctioned on a firing range near the city of Al Kut. Channell grew up wanting to join the armed forces and wound up making a 17-year career of the Marine Corps. He is remembered as a good father, a good husband, a good son. Robert married his high school sweetheart, Joyce, right after boot camp in 1986. The couple and their 5-year-old daughter planned to move to Japan or Hawaii for their last overseas tour. After retiring from the Marines, the family would have returned to Tuscaloosa, where Robert wanted to earn his bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama. Channell grew up in Tuscaloosa County and attended Brookwood High School. He was proud to be a Marine; he was proud to be an American. Channell's sister spent her life watching out for her younger brother. "He was 6-foot-something but I was always his protector because he was hurt at a very young age and people always stared so I was there to take care of him," Tammy Woolbright said.
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