Gamble serving his country

West Memphis native takes Marines to the fight aboard U.S. Navy warship

Navy Community Outreach SAN DIEGO — Petty Officer 1st Class Zachariah Gamble, a native of West Memphis, Arkansas, joined the Navy to get away and travel the world.

Now, 12 years later, Gamble serves aboard one of the Navy’s amphibious ships at Naval Base San Diego.

“We’ve got a good ship,” said Gamble. “Life is good. I’ve been a carrier sailor so this is a new experience for me.”

Gamble, a 2006 graduate of Marion High School in Marion, Arkansas, is an aviation boatswain’s mate handling aboard USS Essex, one of four Wasp-class amphibious assault ships in the Navy, homeported in San Diego. Gamble credits success in the Navy to many of the lessons learned in West Memphis.