Marine 1st Lt Nicholas Bourgeois

Remember Our Heroes

A Camp Lejeune Marine en route to Camp Pendleton, CA was killed in a highway wreck Monday, June 7, 2010. 1st Lt. Nicholas Bourgeois, 28, from Schriever, La., was killed on an Arizona highway while moving across the country with his wife and two children, according to the Daily Comet of Lafourche Parish, La.

1st Lt. Nicholas Bourgeois

THIBODAUX — A 28-year-old Marine from Schriever was killed on an Arizona highway Monday afternoon.

Nicholas Bourgeois, who returned from a tour in Afghanistan four months ago, was moving his family from North Carolina to California when he crashed in east Arizona near Bowie, according to family members and the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Lt. Bourgeois was driving west about 2 p.m. on Interstate 10 in a rented moving truck, his wife and two children following in another vehicle, when a tire on the truck blew, sending him into oncoming traffic.

Nick Bourgeois’ truck hit two other vehicles, killing the 83-year-old driver of one and injuring a woman and child in the other, according to the wreck report.

1st Lt. Bourgeois joined the Marine Corps following his graduation from Houma Christian Academy.

His father and stepmother, Lester and Carrie Bourgeois, still live in Schriever.

Carrie Bourgeois said the family was moving from Camp Lejeune, N.C., to Camp Pendleton in southern California.

Lt. Bourgeois joined the Marine Corps as an enlisted man but was elevated to 2nd Lieutenant after attending the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. A 1st Lieutenant, he was awaiting appointment to captain.

Family members said Tuesday that Bourgeois’ wife and children were returning to Schriever, LA.