'Darkhorse' Marine Remembered By His Uncle John

By Sarah Handel,

Sarah Handel

Published November 22, 2011 at 2:44 PM CST

Lance Cpl. Jake Romo does physical therapy at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, Calif. He lost both legs in an explosion in Sangin, Afghanistan, in February 2011, while serving with the 3/5 Marines.

When Talk of the Nation's Neal Conan asks for callers on a given topic, there's no telling what he'll get. Today, the show followed up with NPR's Tom Bowman on his series about the tremendous sacrifices of the "Darkhorse" Battalion — the Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment. Lance Cpl. Jake Romo lost both his legs in Afghanistan with the battalion, and he spoke with Conan and Bowman about his tour.

Then, John Catherwood from Laramie, Wyoming called in. He thanked Romo for his service, then said his nephew was one of the Darkhorse Marines killed. Conan asked him what his nephew's name was, so we could take a moment for the fallen Marine.

"Lance Corporal Alec Catherwood," said John. "Romo, do you remember him?"

Romo sighed heavily. "Yeah, I was about 50 feet away when he died ... It's hard to hear that name."

Producers are putting John and Romo in touch, and full audio for the show will be available here after 6pm.