Champaign Sailor To Be Honored At USS Cole Bombing Remembrance

Engineman Second Class Marc Ian Nieto

CHAMPAIGN – A Navy Sailor from Champaign who died in the USS Cole attack will be remembered in a ceremony next week.

Back in 1999, terrorists bombed the ship as it was being refueled in Yemen’s Aden Harbor.

Seventeen sailors died, including Engineman Second Class Marc Ian Nieto of Champaign.

The ceremony will take place Naval Station Norfolk on October 12, which will mark 20 years since the attack.

 

Reginald Hardwick

Reginald Hardwick is the News & Public Affairs Director at Illinois Public Media. He oversees daily newscasts and online stories. He also manages The 21st Show, a live, weekday talk show that airs on 7 NPR stations throughout Illinois. He is the executive producer of IPM's annual environmental TV special "State of Change." And he is the co-creator of Illinois Soul, IPM's Black-focused audio service that launched in February 2024. Before arriving at IPM in 2019, he served as News Director at WKAR in East Lansing and spent 17 years as a TV news producer and manager at KXAS, the NBC-owned station in Dallas/Fort Worth. Reginald is the recipient of three Edward R. Murrow regional awards, seven regional Emmy awards, and multiple honors from the National Association of Black Journalists. Born in Vietnam, Reginald grew up in Colorado and is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado. Email: rh14@illinois.edu Twitter: @RNewsWILL