A Strange
Death
An Oak Park Marine is shot during a training exercise.
LONNY GOLDSMITH
Staff Writer
po
271 West Maple
Downtown Birmingham
248.258.0212
Monday—Saturday 10-6 • Thursday 10-9
UNDER
_ ONE ROOF
11
_
■ I MIMI MIND MIN MEW IMMI =MI MIND UMW M=1
MINI MINN MIN MIIT
Rochelle Imber's
Knit,
Knit,
855-2114
Knit
ACCENTS
IN NEEDLEPOINT
Contemporary Designs
626-3042
ovnel4;w6t,
opmel di et&
54 wish
A1`07P0,440veA
4/10
1998
12
IN THE ORCHARD MALL
WEST BLOOMFIELD
Gralnik Sr. is angry over the
Marine Corps' refusal to tell him the
circumstances of what happened.
"They won't give me information
until the investigation is over," he
said. "What happened was caused by
a terrible mistake, but no one ever
fc. William Gralnik told his
mother not to worry if he
didn't call her from Camp
Lejeune in North Carolina
— if anything bad hap-
pened to him, she would
know within 24 hours.
So when Zina Zhigun of
Oak Park opened her door
at 2:30 a.m. April 1 to two
Marine gunnery sergeants,
she wouldn't let them speak.
Their presence told her that
her youngest son was in
trouble.
William Gralnik had just
completed his first year in
the U.S. Marine Corps, sta-
tioned at Camp Lejeune. A
bullet struck the 18-year-old
private first class in the hip,
hitting the femoral artery.
He died at the base hospital
from internal bleeding and
complications from the
wound.
The incident occurred on
L-5, a live-fire range at
Camp Lejeune. According
to Marine Captain Peter
Farnum, L-5 is "where sol-
diers maneuver close to tar-
gets and when the enemy
present themselves, the sol-
diers shoot at them. It's
designed to simulate com-
bat."
Said Zhigun, "They told Pfc. William Gralnik
me he was in critical condi-
tion and the doctors were
said it was an accident.
trying to keep his blood pressure up.
"What makes me angry is that my
I had some hope left."
child was gunned down during rou-
Zhigun was scheduled to fly to see
tine training."
her son at 5:30 a.m., only a few
On April 3, Rabbi Areyh
hours after she was notified, but the
Oberstein conducted a memorial ser-
flight was pushed back to noon. Her
vice at the Camp Lejeune chapel.
ex-husband, Gregory, called from
Oberstein said more than 500 were
California during the delay. He told
in attendance.
her the trip was no longer necessary
Gralnik was buried with full mili-
because, he learned, their son had
tary honors on Sunday, April 5, at
already died.
Hebrew Memorial Park in Clinton
Township.
"The military escorted the body,
picked up at the airport, and soldiers
were pallbearers," said Robert Bodzin
of Hebrew Memorial Chapel. "They
were careful to see that things were
done according to Judaism.7/
Zhigun said that friends of
Gralnik came from
California, Arizona and
Colorado for the funeral.
According to Gunnery
Sgt. Richard Bliss, the
Marines take care of all the
details and cost of the funer-
al.
Gralnik joined the
Marines a year ago, and <
completed boot camp at
Parris Island, S.C. His fami-
ly was unsure of his ability
to complete the course
because he was "too skinny,"
his mother said. They had a
party for him when he grad-
uated.
"He was earning money c--/
so he could go to college,"
said his older brother,
Arkady, 23. Gralnik had
completed paying his por-
tion to the Montgomery
G.I. Bill, which would pay
for him to complete college.
Arkady said his brother
wanted to be a journalist.
Gralnik was born in
Indianapolis on May 28,
1979, the first of his family
born in the United States.
His mother and father
arrived from Zvenigordka,
Ukraine, only two months before.
Gralnik moved to Michigan with
his mother when he was 9, almost
eight years after his parents divorced, ,_,
and attended Southfield's Thompson
Middle School.
In the summer before eighth
grade, he went to an Orthodox
Jewish camp in Cleveland, and had
an offer to live and study at the
Telshe Yeshiva there with Rabbi