MARINE COMES TO THE RESCUE OF STRICKEN TWENTYNINE PALMS MAN

The guardian angel of Gary Vogen of Twentynine Palms was definitely on duty last week. Vogen, a self-described heavy equipment aficionado, had gone to a wash near the 74800 block of Saddle Horn Road in Twentynine Palms about 2 p.m. Monday, June 17, in 100-plus degree temperature, to watch some bulldozers clear the wash. As he was climbing the steep berm of the wash in his flip flops, he fell, breaking the little toe of his left foot in the process. For the next half hour, he tried unsuccessfully to get up, tearing off two toenails, and getting third degree burns on the bottom pads of his toes in the process. Finally, he called his wife Julie and asked her to come help him. Managing editor Tami Roleff explains what happened next…
“There were higher forces at work. I wasn’t even off work. I had just pulled up in my driveway.” Joseph Marshall is a Marine stationed at the Twentynine Palms Marine Base and had come home to the 74800 block of Saddle Horn Road in Twentynine Palms on a quick errand about 3:15 on June 17 when he was approached by a woman he had never met before. Julie Vogen said her husband had fallen in the desert and couldn’t get up. Marshall never hesitated and went with her to find Vogen. When Marshall and Julie Vogen determined Gary couldn’t stand, even with assistance, Marshall went home to get his car and drove it back to Vogen’s location, helped him into the car, and drove him back to his home in the 4700 block of Flying H Road. Gary Vogen collapsed in his driveway, and Julie Vogen called 911. Marshall, who had worked as a first responder when he was stationed in North Carolina, took over, answered the dispatchers’ questions, and stayed with the Vogens until the ambulance arrived to take Gary Vogen to Hi-Desert Medical Center. “It makes me feel good that I was in the right place at the right time.” Vogen has nothing but the highest praise for Marshall. “He’s my hero.” He does have one regret about the entire incident though. “I didn’t even get to see the stupid bulldozer.” Doctors say Gary Vogen’s injuries are so severe he may lose a couple of toes. But he is so grateful for Joseph Marshall’s help, that he has given him a thank you card, a gift certificate to take his family out to dinner, and wrote a letter to Marshall’s commanding officer praising his efforts.