Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Nicholas Dural poses for a photo April 6, 2023, after receiving the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal at Quantico, Va. Dural, 20, of Lafayette, La., died Dec. 19, 2023, while assigned to the U.S. Embassy in the Republic of Congo. (Keegan Bailey/U.S. Marine Corps)
A Marine security guard honored last year for stopping a stabbing in Virginia died several days before Christmas in the Republic of Congo.
Marine Lance Cpl. Nicholas Dural, 20, of Lafayette, La., died Dec. 19 while assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Brazzaville, his mother confirmed to Stars and Stripes.
Kimberly Dural said she was unable to provide any further information about the circumstances of her son’s death because the matter is under investigation.
A State Department official confirmed the death of a U.S. service member in the Republic of Congo but declined to comment further. A Marine Corps official referred questions to the U.S. Embassy in Brazzaville.
Dural was one of three Marines who received the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal last April for intervening in a fight in which two teenagers attacked a third teenager at a Chick-fil-A in North Stafford, Va.
Witnesses told local police at the time that one male teenager was approached by the other two. The three boys got into an argument before a physical altercation ensued. As the two teenagers assaulted the other teen, one of them pulled out a knife, police said.
The three Marines jumped into action and attempted to separate the parties. One Marine broke the knife in half and the two suspects quickly fled.
Kimberly Dural said Nicholas was the Marine who broke the knife.
“Thank you to the hero Marines who stepped up. Without you, this altercation could have been a lot worse,” the sheriff’s office said at the time.
The three Marines were students at the Marine Security Guard School in Quantico, Va., taking a course to prepare them to act as security at U.S. embassies around the world.
His mother said Nicholas always wanted to be a Marine since he was a little boy. She did not know why he picked the Marines because they did not have any immediate family in the service branch.
“It’s just something he always wanted to do,” Kimberly Dural said.
Her son wanted to ship off to boot camp after high school. His sisters cried so much that he opted to go to college instead. When college didn’t work out, he spent some time working on tugboats along the Mississippi River.
One day, she found out Nicholas was going to boot camp when a letter from his job arrived at the family house, noting he resigned to join the Marines.
“We found out about two weeks before he shipped off,” she said. “I was like, ‘Sweetie, you weren’t going to tell us?’ He said, ‘I was going to tell you, but I didn’t want anyone to talk me out of it.’ ”
Dural excelled as a Marine, his mother said. Nicholas was a squad leader at boot camp. Drill instructors and new Marines alike came up to his parents during graduation commending them on their son.
“Nick was very mature for his age,” Kimberly Dural said. “He was a natural leader. That’s the thing. No matter where he was, whatever he did, he always rose up to be a leader.”
After boot camp, he went to infantry training and then security guard training in Quantico.
Nicholas enjoyed being in the Republic of Congo where he got to see a new part of the world and meet new people. He kept busy by enrolling in college online studying psychology, according to his mother. Nicholas organized the embassy’s Marine Corps birthday ball in November.
“It’s really hard to even comprehend what life is going to be like after this. What I can say is he did a lot in his 20 years,” Dural said.
She said the family has been told their son’s body will be transported to New Orleans on Jan. 10. Services will be held in Lafayette on Jan. 13. Nicholas Dural will be given full military honors.
