Are we on the verge of a war in Korea?

Kim Jong Un has been spewing belligerent statements ever since the United Nations imposed sanctions on his country for continuing to

South Korea

develop a nuclear capability. First, he canceled the Armistice. Then, he put his nation on military alert and stated that his country was in a state of war with the south. Is the young Korean dictator serious or is he trying to consolidate his power within his regime?

Will his jingoism lead to a shooting war in Asia? One small incident could escalate into a new Korean War. What will a war in Korea look like? For some insight, let’s take a short look at the Korean war of the 1950’s.

Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into two nations after World War II; the Communist controlled northern half and the Democratic southern half. From their separation, there was a tense standoff. Then, on 25 June 1950, North Korean troops poured across the border into South Korea in an attempt to consolidate the two nations through force of arms. The Communist forces pushed south on the Korean peninsula, capturing 90% of South Korea. The South Korean Army, and their American allies managed to defend a tiny foothold at the southern tip of the peninsula along the Pusan perimeter until America could marshal its resources.

Then, on 15 September 1950, United States Marines conducted a bold amphibious landing far behind enemy lines at the western port city of Inchon, near South Korea’s capital, Seoul. As the Marines prepared to breakout from their beachhead to sever the enemies supply lines, the North Koreans retreated. They withdrew back across the 38th Parallel and the Allied forces pushed into North Korea toward the Chinese border, hoping to rid the entire Korean peninsula of Communist rule.

On 25 October 1950, the People’s Republic of China intervened when hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops attacked across the border into North Korea. The South Korean Army and American forces were engulfed by the massive Chinese incursion. They had to fight their way south to fall back again. Marine General “Chesty” Puller, when asked, said, “We are not retreating, we are attacking in a different direction.” The Allies managed to stem the Chinese tide and set a new defensive line, ironically, at the 38th Parallel. The North and South remained locked in a shooting stalemate until an armistice was signed on 27 July 1953, but not before more than 500,000 South Koreans and 33,000 Americans were killed.

Sixty three years ago, neither the North Koreans nor the South Koreans had the military capabilities they have today. Today, more than one million troops and 20,000 armored vehicles and artillery pieces are facing each other along the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and nearly half of the population of Seoul is within North Korean artillery range. Today, more than 10 million people live in, and around, Seoul. If the North Koreans start shooting, hundreds of thousands of Koreans could die before the South Korean Armed Forces and their American ally could react. Let us pray that Kim Jong Un’s bark is worse than his bite.

Richard S. Lowry has been writing about our men and women in uniform for many years. To learn more about his writing and how to purchase his latest book, visit www.richardslowry.com.

Entering Nasiriyah

It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since Jessica Lynch and the 507^th Maintenance Company rolled through the dusty streets of An Nasiriyah on March 23, 2003. Eleven of Jessica’s fellow soldiers were killed that morning, five were captured and a dozen more injured. Lynch was critically injured and near death when she was brought into a military hospital near the site of her ambush.

Within hours of the ambush, the North Carolina Marines of Task Force Tarawa moved to secure the bridges in An Nasiriyah. LtCol Rickey Grabowski’s 1^st Battalion, of the 2^nd Marine Regiment rolled into the city and encountered stiff resistance. By midmorning they had rescued nearly half of the soldiers who had been ambushed and by noon the Marines were charging forward through a hail of RPGs, AK-47 gunfire, mortar and artillery barrages. By sunset, Grabowski’s Marines had secured their objectives but at a terrible cost. Eighteen of America’s finest died and another dozen were wounded.

In all, twenty-nine Americans died that day in An Nasiriyah. Initially, the situation in Nasiriyah was so confusing and filled with the fog of war that no one knew the connection between the 507th Maintenance Company and the brave Marines of the 2d Marine Regiment. At first, Jessica’s capture was kept quiet for fear that the enemy would move her if they suspected that America knew where she was.

As the days and weeks passed, the news media moved on to Lynch’s rescue and then the fall of Baghdad. When the Department of Defense finally sorted things out and released the names of the Marines and soldiers who died that day, the media took very little interest. No one ever realized that that bloody day in Nasiriyah, on March 23rd, was the costliest day of combat for America in the long years of operations in Iraq.  Twenty-nine American soldiers and Marines were never given the national attention that they deserved for their ultimate sacrifice. This Saturday, nearly a thousand of the veterans of the fight to free Nasiriyah will be coming together at the Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia to honor those sacrifices.

Before sunrise on the 23rd of March, 2003, thirty-three soldiers, traveling in eighteen trucks, stumbled into the dusty desert city of An Nasiriyah. It wasn’t until they had driven all the way through the city that they realized that they were hopelessly lost. As soon as they turned around and tried to retrace their path, every Iraqi with a gun started shooting at the beleaguered convoy. The lead three vehicles managed to run the gauntlet and get back to the U.S. Marines’ front lines.

Five vehicles broke down and ten soldiers scrambled for cover in a nearby ditch. Surrounded, they each vowed to go down fighting. They fought to hold off the enemy for nearly an hour, when Major Bill Peeples and the Marine tankers of Alpha Company, 8th Tanks arrived to save the day. The Marines beat back the enemy and rushed the ten soldiers to safety.

The remaining seventeen soldiers were not as fortunate. Eleven were killed and six captured. Specialists Jamaal Addison and James Kiehl both died when their vehicle careened through an intersection and rolled over on its top.  Private First Class Howard Johnson II and Private Ruben Estrella-Soto’s truck crashed at the same intersection.  Sergeant Donald Walters was lost north of An Nasiriyah when his vehicle broke down. He leapt from his disabled vehicle behind enemy lines and laid down covering fire so that the rest of his unit could turn their vehicles and get out of a horrific ambush.  Private Brandon Sloan was shot and killed while the vehicle he was in was racing south. Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Mata’s truck shuddered to a stop atop a railroad overpass and burst into flames. Mata was killed, but his driver, Specialist Hudson, survived.

Jessica Lynch's HMMWV

Near the end to the doomed convoy, First Sergeant Robert Dowdy tried to shepherd his soldiers to safety. Private First Class Lori Piestewa was driving Dowdy’s HMMWV. Specialist Edward Anguiano, Sergeant George Buggs and Private First Class Jessica Lynch were riding in the back. Piestewa managed to maneuver around obstacles and raced all the way back through Nasiriyah when the flatbed in front of her jackknifed. Lori was unable to avoid the back of the skidding truck. She plowed into the rear of the flatbed, instantly killing Dowdy.

We know that Lori and Jessica survived the collision. It is not clear what happened to Buggs and Anguiano. Patrick Miller, Hudson, Hernandez, Lynch, Piestewa, Riley, and Shoshana Johnson were all taken prisoner. Lynch and Piestewa were separated from the others and eventually ended up in the Tykar Military Hospital. Lori died while being treated, leaving Lynch alone and near death.

The soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Company that were killed that day were from all walks of life and every corner of this nation. They were a swatch cut from the American fabric and the first to die in this protracted war. Lori Piestewa was an American Indian and single mother. Brandon Sloan and Robert Dowdy were both from Cleveland Ohio. Brandon, 19, had left high school early to join the Army, while Dowdy, 38, was a career soldier. James Kiehl, 22, was a friendly computer technician who left behind a pregnant wife. Buggs and Anguiano were not even members of the 507th. Dowdy had convinced them to take one of their vehicles in tow two nights before. Their tow truck ran out of gas north of An Nasiriyah and Dowdy, Piestewa and Lynch had picked them up.

By noon, the Marines were pressing north to secure two vital bridges in An Nasiriyah. The fighting started long before they reached the Euphrates River but it wasn’t until they moved into downtown Nasiriyah that all hell broke loose. Alpha Company secured the Euphrates River Bridge while Bravo Company swung out to the east side of town. Charlie Company raced over the Euphrates River and charged through “Ambush Alley” to the Saddam Canal Bridge.

North of the Saddam Canal

Eighteen Marines died in Charlie Company’s battle for that northern bridge. Donald Cline was a twenty-one year old husband and father of two young boys. Patrick Nixon loved history and wanted to eventually be a teacher. Phillip Jordan was a career Marine and loving husband and father. Fred Pokorney was a giant of a man who had just been promoted to 1st Lieutenant.  Sergeant Michael Bitz was the father of two young boys and one-month old twins. David Fribley and Brian Buesing were both Florida natives. Fribley joined the Corps after 9/11 and Buesing had been in the Marines since he graduated from high school. Brendon Reiss was the son of a decorated Vietnam Veteran and Randal Rosacker was the son of a Navy Master Chief submarine sailor. Jose Garibay and Jorge Gonzalez were both from Southern California. Thomas Slocum was a 22 year old from Colorado and Nolen Hutchings was from South Carolina. They were both troubled teens who had worked to turn their lives around in the Corps.

Tamario Burkett was a young Marine from upstate New York. Kemaphoom Chanawongse was born in Thailand and came to the United States at nine years old. He was the first to have a Buddhist funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. Johnathan Gifford wanted to be a Marine since he was a little boy. Michael Williams joined the Corps late in life. At 31, he was just a Lance Corporal but older than most of the young officers he worked for. On his trip over to Iraq, he emailed his girlfriend and asked her to marry him. Thomas Blair was not a member of Charlie Company. He was part of an anti-aircraft unit that had been assigned to Charlie Company. He too, went directly into the Marine Corps after high school graduation.

Twenty-nine lives ended too soon on that clear Sunday in March. Twenty-nine families grieve to this day. These soldiers and Marines died before there was a daily box score in the newspapers of America. They have been buried under thousands more stories. Donald Cline and Michael Williams died because they chose to help their wounded comrades.

Many more soldiers and Marines would have died that day had it not been for the Herculean efforts of men like, Private First Class Patrick Miller, Sergeant Michael Bitz, Gunnery Sergeant Jason Doran, Lieutenant Mike Seely, Captain Eric Garcia, and Major Bill Peeples. These men are true American heroes.

           Read about these brave young men and women in the only book to tell the entire story of America’s first major battle in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Marines in the Garden of Eden, Berkley, New York, 2006, is available at all fine bookstores and online booksellers. It is available in Trade Paperback and in many eBook formats.

Nine years ago today, American Soldiers and Marines were racing across the southeastern Iraqi wasteland – charging toward Baghdad. Historians will long argue the righteousness of the 2003 American invasion of Iraq. During the last nine years I have tried to avoid the political discussion. It has been my goal to tell the stories of America’s sons and daughters at war and to tell them as accurately as possible.

As I conducted my research to tell these amazing stories, I have uncovered details that have not been presented to the American people. I have painstakingly studied the story of Jessica Lynch, Rafael Peralta and the battles of Nasiriyah and Fallujah. I have amassed and read thousands of pages of documentation. I have become an expert on the war in Iraq and I have tried to tell the stories of American men and women who did not pick this fight, but fought it anyway. March 23 will mark the ninth anniversary of the first major battle of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the bloodiest single day for America in that long war. Twenty nine Americans were killed in the battle of An Nasiriyah. Here is the beginning of their story.

On March 22, 2003, American Soldiers and Marines were charging across the Iraqi desert, on their way to Saddam’s center of power – Baghdad. The Marines of Task Force Tarawa had been ordered to drive toward the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. There were several bridges in, and around, the dusty city that provided the only viable Euphrates River crossing point. Two critical bridges crossed the river and a third forded the Saddam Canal, north of Nasiriyah.

1^st Battalion, 2d Marines were ordered to secure the eastern Euphrates River Bridge and to then push through the city to secure the northern bridge which spanned the Saddam Canal. Movement across the Iraqi desert was slow-going and Task Force Tarawa arrived at Jalibah late on March 22, 2003.

Around midnight on 22/23 March, the Marines of 1^st Battalion, 2d Marines were awakened and ordered into their vehicles. They waited there for about an hour and then they moved north toward the intersection of Highway 7 and Highway 1. The Marines moved through the cloverleaf intersection and were headed north on Highway 7 toward Nasiriyah when a small column of Army supply trucks, headlights blazing, raced up the road behind the Marines.

Lieutenant Colonel Rickey Grabowski, believing these to be support vehicles for the Army armored unit he was supposed to relieve, ordered his vehicles off the road to let the soldiers pass. But, this was not a 3d Infantry Division logistics unit. It was Captain Troy King and half of his 507^th Maintenance Company. King’s company had become separated in the Kuwaiti desert when several of his vehicles broke down. Captain King was racing forward with 32 of his soldiers in 16 vehicles. They sped past the Marines and headed directly into Nasiriyah.

By 0600, Captain King had led his convoy up a deserted winding highway, across a railroad overpass and past a yellow sign displaying “WELCOME” in large black block letters below what was obviously the same message in Arabic. He led his convoy past a company of dug-in Iraqi tanks, and then through an area filled with giant oil storage tanks.  Dozens of large power lines crisscrossed the road and cluttered the sky. King continued forward into the southern portion of An Nasiriyah. He passed a garbage dump and then a gas station. He drove right through a modern intersection equipped with freeway-style traffic signs, stop lights and a small guard shack built to provide shade for a traffic cop. This major intersection was adorned with a statue commemorating the Iran/Iraq War.

At this intersection, Highway 8 went off to the west, through the southern portion of An Nasiriyah. Captain King missed the large signs, missed the traffic lights, missed the statue, and the left turn onto Highway 8. Instead of heading west toward the Third Infantry Division, he led his soldiers straight into Nasiriyah on Highway 7.

He continued past a manned Iraqi Army checkpoint, and then over the Euphrates River Bridge. Iraqi pickup trucks, loaded with armed Iraqis and machine guns mounted in their beds, began shadowing the American convoy.  Captain King pressed on, obviously incapable of reading a map. He proceeded north across the Saddam Canal Bridge and through more Iraqi defenses. By now, he should have been 100% sure that he was lost. Yet King drove right past the 23rd Brigade’s abandoned headquarters building and turned left on Highway 16. Less than a mile down Highway 16, King approached another “T” intersection with Highway 7. He led the doomed convoy past the Al Quds’ Headquarters and north for more than a mile before he finally realized that he was hopelessly lost.

Finally, King decided to retrace his steps back through Nasiriyah to find the correct route. Just as they were turning to head back down Highway 16, they began to receive sporadic small arms fire. Bullets whizzed overhead and hit the vehicles. The shots seemed to be coming from everywhere. The convoy immediately sped up to get away from the hot fire zone.

Leading the convoy in his HMMWV, King sped forward at such a rate that the larger vehicles were unable to keep up. As the convoy raced forward, ever increasing distances separated the beleaguered vehicles. King drove past the right-hand turn that would take his convoy back down Ambush Alley. In his panic, he continued east on Highway 16.

Not far behind, Sergeant First Class Anthony Pierce and Specialist Timothy Johnson noticed that Captain King had missed the turn. Lacking a working radio, they accelerated their 5-ton truck to catch up with Captain King to tell him that they knew the way back to the turn. Meanwhile, First Sergeant Robert Dowdy approached the Highway 7 intersection at the tail of the fleeing convoy. Dowdy radioed ahead to tell Captain King that the convoy had missed the turn. They all needed to turn around – again.

Still under fire, the convoy continued east on Highway 16, frantically searching for a spot to turn the larger vehicles around. They continued to roll east, farther and farther from Highway 7. There was no decent place to turn around. They pushed east for three kilometers before finally coming upon a suitable spot to turn all of the vehicles. In his small vehicle, King quickly turned around and sped back west.

When the soldiers in the convoy, still under fire, reached the intersection where they needed to turn south, they all turned to retrace their path back through Nasiriyah. Captain King bolted south across the Canal Bridge and through the city, leaving his soldiers in the slower vehicles to fend for themselves. Lori Piestewa, First Sergeant Dowdy, Private First Class Jessica Lynch, Sergeant George Buggs, and Private First Class Edward Anguiano stayed behind with the slowest vehicles.

The faster group of vehicles, led by Captain King and his driver, Private Dale Nace, sped through the city under increasing fire. Pierce and Johnson followed King south as they raced their 5-ton tractor-trailer back through the city.  Sergeant Joel Petrik and Specialist Nicholas Peterson managed to keep their tractor-trailer going fast enough to keep up with Captain King’s Humvee. The three vehicles rushed south through “Ambush Alley” as the Iraqis attempted to block their passage with vehicles and debris. Swerving and dodging the obstacles, they pressed forward over the Euphrates River Bridge.

As they drove south, Petrik noticed a dump truck in the road ahead. The Iraqis had driven the truck onto the road to use as a barricade. An Iraqi officer was standing in the road, waiving for Nace and Captain King to stop. Nace accelerated and the Iraqi dove for cover behind the barricade. Pierce and Johnson swerved around the dump truck and followed King south. By the time Petrik and Peterson had reached the roadblock, the Iraqi Officer was back on his feet in the middle of the road with pistol drawn and he was firing at the approaching eighteen-wheeler.

Petrik and Peterson returned fire with their M-16s and the Iraqi jumped to safety again. Petrik swerved around the right side of the dump truck and momentarily off the road. Now there was an Iraqi Technical directly ahead of them. Petrik jerked the wheel back to the left and his large truck jumped back up onto the road. The gunner in the Technical sprayed the passing truck with machine gun fire as Petrik raced past.

Once past the roadblock, there was a short pause in the shooting. Petrik’s rear view mirror had been shot out so he asked Peterson, “How many vehicles are in back of us?” [1]

“None,” Peterson replied.

“None?” Petrik couldn’t believe it. “Look again!”

Peterson checked again. There were no vehicles in sight. Petrik was flabbergasted. Where had all the other vehicles gone? Petrik considered stopping and waiting for the rest of the Company, but the enemy fire picked up again and then he saw four Iraqi tanks. There were two tanks on either side of the road.

Meanwhile, Grabowski’s tanks were approaching the city from the south. As Captain Scott Dyer’s tank approached two farm houses, Major Donald “Hawk” Hawkins looked to the house on the left side of the road and saw a man in a white robe (man-dress) literally picking up children and throwing them into the over loaded rear bed of his small pickup truck. “That’s not a good sign,” Hawk thought, just as small arms fire erupted and mortar rounds exploded nearby.

The lead tanks quickly turned and charged the farm houses. Dyer stopped his tank about 40 yards from the house on the west side of the road. Hawk and Dyer could hear the small arms fire but could not determine where it was coming from.  Suspecting that they were being shot at from the house, Captain Dyer directed Hawk to fire his machine gun into the building and a vegetated area to the north. The tankers violent response drove the enemy fighters from their cover and both farm houses were quickly secured.

As the tankers were fighting at the farm houses, King’s three lead vehicles sped south through a hail of gunfire, past the Iraqi tanks and over the railroad bridge. At the crest of the bridge, Petrik noticed more tanks in the distance. They were American M1 tanks. Petrik thought, “Please don’t let the Abrams shoot, because they don’t miss.”

King, Nace, Johnson, Pierce, Petrik and Peterson raced south toward the Marines on Highway 7. Just as the tanks were pulling back up onto the road, Peeples’ tankers saw the vehicle racing south, pulling a flaming trailer toward the Marines. Despite the adrenalin rush of “first contact” the reserve tankers had the discipline and maturity to wait to fire until they could make a visual ID. To their surprise, it was Captain King’s HMMWV. Everyone held their fire. Around 0730, King’s Humvee, a small truck and a semi barreled south past Peeples’ lead tanks, and screeched to a stop.

Sitting atop his M1 tank, Major Peeples watched the beleaguered vehicles approach. Captain King jumped out, pistol drawn, and took cover behind the passenger side door.

Major Peeples climbed down from his tank and briskly walked over to King. “What in the Hell is going on?”[2]

“I got more people up there!” King replied, motioning north. King was almost hysterical.

“What is the situation up there?” Peeples tried to get a picture of what he was up against. “Where were you receiving fire?”

King was frazzled. He couldn’t provide any useful information.

Peeples tried once again. “How many soldiers are left up there?”

“I, I just need, I need you to go get some people. I got people up there.” King babbled.

“Okay, Fine!” Peeples left King standing in the road and returned to his tank. Major Peeples got on the radio and reported his bizarre find to Grabowski – then ordered a section of his tanks forward. When Hawk saw the tanks moving north he told Captain Scott Dyer, “I have to be with the lead trace.[3]” So Captain Dyer ordered his tank forward too. Dyer’s driver gunned the engine, and followed Peeples north. As they rolled forward, Hawk, unable to contact the Air Officer, started calling out on the guard frequency[4] for Cobra support.

Captains Matt Schenberger, Brian Bruggeman, and Lieutenants Travis Richie and John Parker had parked their two HML/A 269 Cobra helicopters for the night near Jalibah at a nearby makeshift airfield and had slept on the desert floor next to their refueling trucks. On the morning of March 23, 2003, they climbed into their birds, cranked their engines and lifted into the morning sky. As soon as they were airborne, they were alerted to Hawk’s call. They turned north and raced toward An Nasiriyah to help their fellow North Carolina Marines.

Hawk told the pilots to start searching for more of the 507th soldiers with their high powered optics. As Team Tank charged forward to rescue King’s soldiers, other Marines escorted King south to the relative safety of Grabowski’s Battalion Command Post. The bounding maneuver that Hawk had demonstrated, practiced and was admonished for while at Camp Shoup, was now seamlessly being put into practice by the Air-Ground team of Cobras and tanks.

Separated from Captain King and the lead vehicles, Army Specialist Jun Zhang and Sergeant Curtis Campbell led the second group of helpless vehicles in another 5-ton tractor-trailer. Private First Class Marcus Dubois and Corporal Damien Luten followed in a second truck. CW3[5] Marc Nash and Staff Sergeant Tarik Jackson were towing a trailer with their HMMWV and Private First Class Adam Elliot and Sergeant James Grubb followed in their empty fuel truck. Finally, Sergeant Rose and Corporal Francis Carista rounded out the second group in their 5-ton tractor-trailer.

These ten soldiers raced south in their five vehicles. Zhang, Dubois, Jackson, Elliot, and Rose swerved around obstacles and drove over the Euphrates River Bridge. They raced south past the intersection with Highway 8, past the dug-in tanks, and up onto the railway bridge, only to find a terrifying sight.

The Iraqis had blocked the southern end of the bridge by pushing two dilapidated buses across the road. Iraqi fighters peppered Zhang and Campbell’s vehicles with small arms and RPG fire. Campbell recalled, “I have never been so scared in my life.”[6] While rolling down the bridge, their vehicle was hit repeatedly by RPGs and small arms fire. The vehicle rolled forward from momentum only. Mortally wounded, the engine had ceased to work. Somehow Zhang managed to maneuver the truck around the roadblock of buses but their tractor-trailer soon rolled to a terrifying stop.

Zhang and Campbell immediately jumped from their disabled vehicle. Zhang jumped onto Dubois and Luten’s truck as it passed but Campbell, who had been riding “shotgun,” was now left alone with the disabled truck. He tried to return fire and was shot in the thigh.

Nash and Jackson screeched to a stop and picked up Campbell. The HMMWV kicked up dust and stones as it accelerated to continue south. But the three didn’t get very far before their Hummer was hit and disabled. Dubois, Luten, and Zhang raced south and soon they noticed vehicles on the highway ahead – lots of vehicles. They thought the vehicles on the southern horizon were more Iraqis so they quickly turned their truck around and returned to their stranded friends just south of the railroad bridge. Ten soldiers were now huddled in a trench along the side of the road. The small group formed a defensive perimeter. Rose dressed the others’ wounds as they waited for the Iraqis to overrun their position. Each of the ten soldiers had resigned himself to the fact that the situation was hopeless and that he would probably die soon. They all decided to hold on as long as they could. They agreed that they would go down fighting and not be captured. One said, “I am going to take fifteen or twenty of them with me.”[7]

Major Peeples’ tanks tried to advance by bounds up the road, but the narrow road was raised above a muddy delta and there was very little room for the tankers to maneuver around each other. On his second bound, Captain Jim Thompson radioed Peeples. “Hey, I see them,”[8] he reported. Thompson abandoned the bounding over watch and with the cover of the Cobras, raced forward toward the embattled soldiers of the 507th.

Running low on ammunition and with five wounded, the ten stranded soldiers had been lying in the trench for nearly an hour, waiting for the Iraqis to close in on their position. Suddenly, Staff Sergeant Tarik Jackson, the most seriously wounded, cocked his head, “Listen!” he exclaimed. “Do you hear that? It sounds like our tanks!”[9]

Someone peeked up out of the trench and saw Captain Thompson’s tanks approaching. Thompson’s tankers began picking targets and methodically destroying the enemy with main gun rounds while Hawk’s Cobras swooped in and attacked the enemy from above.

After spending forty-five minutes of sheer hell, believing that they were going to die that day, the sound of M1 tanks and Cobra helicopters immediately rallied the despondent soldiers. They would survive. The Marines had saved the day. Peeples’ tanks rolled up and straddled the trench at the “Garbage Dump,” just south of the railroad overpass.

Cobras and Hueys swooped in and braved anti-aircraft fire to protect the soldiers on the ground. The pilots reported large numbers of fighters moving toward the trapped soldiers.  They flew in low and fast, engaging enemy troops and weapons systems.  Every now and then, anti-aircraft artillery fire would climb up after them.

At one point, there was so much air coming in that Hawk couldn’t keep all the call signs straight; many of which were similar sounding names. Because they were ‘troops in contact,’ all priority for air had shifted to Task Force Tarawa. At one point there were two sections of Marine F18s, one section of Navy F14s and a British Tornado that checked on station in addition to the division of Cobras.  Do to his unfamiliarity with the capabilities of the British Tornados, and less than ideal experiences with F14s providing close air support, Hawk elected to stick with using Marine Corps Air whenever it was available.[10]

Working as a combined arms team, Peeples’ tankers, the aircraft overhead and the artillery were able to destroy several platoon-sized enemy formations, two ZSU 23-4[11] antiaircraft weapons, several mortar and artillery positions, as well as two T-55 tanks spotted moving toward the ambushed soldiers.

As soon as Dyer had seen Campbell and his comrades huddled in the ditch, he called for a cas-evac. Alpha Company sent two AAVs with Gunnery Sergeant Justin LeHew and First Sergeant James Thompson’s Casualty Collection Team forward to assist the wounded soldiers. The Iraqis were still firing as Thompson rolled up in his AMTRAC, A312.[12] Peeples’ tankers continued to lay down covering fire as First Sergeant Thompson, Gunny LeHew and their corpsmen ran to the aid of the wounded soldiers.

As they loaded the casualties on to their track, Thompson noticed some commotion near the soldiers who were not wounded. Chief Warrant Officer Marc Nash was refusing to get into the AMTRAC.

“I can’t leave my men behind, First Sergeant,”[13] he protested to Thompson. “I got men all over the place. They ambushed us bad.”

Thompson tried to calm Nash. “Hey Sir, the Marines have landed. You gotta leave them. You can’t stay here.” Thompson didn’t wait for a response: he just dragged Nash into the track. “We will do everything we can to find them.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Eleven Soldiers of the 507^th Maintenance Company died in that ambush and eighteen Marines were killed later that day as they moved to secure the bridges. Let us never forget the dedication and sacrifices of these men and women. Please take a moment to remember these Soldiers and Sailors. They will not be completely gone until they are forgotten:

Specialists Jamaal Addison, Specialist Edward Anguiano, Sergeant George Buggs, First Sergeant Robert Dowdy, Private Ruben Estrella-Soto, Private First Class Howard Johnson II, Specialist James Kiehl, Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Mata, Private First Class Lori Piestewa, Private Brandon Sloan and the real hero of the 507^th Maintenance Company, Sergeant Donald Walters.

Later that same day, eighteen Marines died in Charlie Company’s battle for the northern bridge. Donald Cline was a twenty-one year old husband and father of two young boys. Patrick Nixon loved history and wanted to eventually be a teacher. Phillip Jordan was a career Marine and loving husband and father. Fred Pokorney was a giant of a man who had just been promoted to 1st Lieutenant.  Sergeant Michael Bitz was the father of two young boys and one-month old twins. David Fribley and Brian Buesing were both Florida natives. Fribley joind the Corps after 9/11 and Buesing had been in the Marines since he graduated from high school. Brendon Reiss was the son of a decorated Vietnam Veteran and Randal Rosacker was the son of a Navy Master Chief submarine sailor. Jose Garibay and Jorge Gonzalez were both from Southern California. Thomas Slocum was a 22 year old from Colorado and Nolen Hutchings was from South Carolina. They were both troubled teens who had worked to turn their lives around in the Corps.

Tamario Burkett was a young Marine from upstate New York. Kemaphoom Chanawongse was born in Thailand and came to the United States at nine years old. He was the first to have a Buddhist funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. Johnathan Gifford wanted to be a Marine since he was a little boy. Michael Williams joined the Corps late in life. At 31, he was just a Lance Corporal but older than most of the young officers he worked for. On his trip over to Iraq, he emailed his girlfriend and asked her to marry him. Thomas Blair was not a member of Charlie Company. He was part of an anti-aircraft unit that had been assigned to Charlie Company. He too, went directly into the Marine Corps after high school graduation.

Please hold these men and women in your thoughts today and read Marines in the Garden of Eden to learn the story of each and every one of these American heroes.

Today, Saturday, May 21, 2011, I had the honor of bidding farewell Marion “Turk” Turner’s as his ashes were returned to the sea for his eternal patrol. A cool breeze blew in Bataan’s hanger deck this morning as an honor guard, silhouetted by the bright morning sun, stood at attention in their crisp dress white uniforms. There was a white morning haze separating the deep blue sea and a clear blue sky. It was a perfect day to say goodbye.

Turk was born Marion Turner on April 22, 1918 in Moultrie, Georgia and enlisted in the United States Navy in 1939. He became an Electrician’s Mate and immediately volunteered for the submarine service. He served aboard USS Sealion and USS Perch.

While serving aboard Perch, the boat was attacked by Japanese destroyers on March 1, 1942. The Captain quickly submerged the boat, as the enemy quickly closed in on the American submarine. The relentless depth charge attack drove the boat down to 135 feet. Turk and his friends worked through the night patching leaks and they were finally able to resurface early the next morning to get fresh air and recharge their batteries.

The enemy ships spotted Perch when she surfaced and attacked – again. This time the depth charges exploded dangerously close, rupturing one of Perch’s ballast tanks, belching oil and bubbles toward the surface. Perch waited in silence until it was safe to surface again. They patched up all they could but the damage was too severe to allow Perch to submerge again. Unable to submerge, the boat’s captain, Lieutenant Commander David A. Hurt ordered the ship to be abandoned and the submarine scuttled.

Years later, Turner recalled: “… as we were given the order to ‘abandon the boat’ when Perch was going down, our captain was the last man off the conning tower. We were in the water for awhile before the Japanese came by to rescue our crew. We did not know if they were going to shoot us or abandon us to the sea. Hurt was having difficulty treading water as the Japanese ship was rescuing the crew using a rickety ladder.”

The captain told Turner that he “wasn’t going to make it,” and said, “Just leave me Turk, I no longer have the strength to go on, save yourself … leave me.”

“I wasn’t going to listen to that,” Turner remembered, “so I dove down and came up right under him, and I pushed him right up the ladder with him still protesting,”

The entire crew survived that day, but six died later in Japanese POW camps as they all endured cruel beatings, starvation and tropical diseases for three and a half years. Fellow POWs remember Turk for his indomitable spirit. Daily, he would tell his friends, ‘We will be saved tomorrow.’ Turk, his friends and the captain were not rescued until the end of the war. After more than three years of captivity, they returned home to the United States October 17, 1945.

Turk Turner remained in the Navy until he retired on December 1, 1959. He settled in Virginia Beach and because of his POW experience with survivors of the Bataan Death March, became a friend of USS Bataan. Turner made many visits to events sponsored by Bataan until his death on February 28, 2011.

Over sixty years after receiving his injuries while in captivity, Turner was presented the Purple Heart Medal, January 2, 2011 during a ceremony held at King’s Grant Baptist Church in Virginia Beach.

“Turk showed us all courage and humility during and after facing the enormous struggle of a POW,” said Captain Stephen T. Koehler, who as the commanding officer of USS Bataan, pinned the medals on Turner. “He gave us perspective when we thought we were having a bad day. It only takes a thought of him with his struggle over 60 years ago, and the way he handled it with a positive attitude to shed light on our current day-to-day problems.

“He became a friend and inspiration to both me and the crew of Bataan with this positive attitude and his zest for life,” Koehler continued. “He spent a lot of his time with my young Sailors telling stories and relating his time in submarines and as a POW, for which I am grateful. He was truly a great influence on Bataan Sailors in our quest to keep Bataan’s heritage part of our ship.”

Ted Davis, a retired U.S. Navy captain and former commanding officer of the USS Grenadier SS 525, echoed Plantz’s praise.

“There is nothing Turk wouldn’t do or has not already done for his country, his service, his friends, and his family,” said Davis, a long-time friend and member of the Hampton Roads Chapter of the U.S. Submarine Veterans, Inc. “Turk showed us the way a hero walks, softy with love in his heart. He may have spent many tours in Hell, but he served God and country for life.”

This morning, after a short speech and prayer, Turk’s remains were passed to Captain Stephen Koehler, who reverentially placed the ashes under an American flag. Then, Turk was committed to the deep to the sharp shrill whistle of a Boatswain’s Pipe and a final hand salute.

Farewell my brother, may you rest in peace.

Richard S. Lowry is currently embedded with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, on-station in the Mediterranean Sea with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, aboard USS Bataan LHD 5. Richard is a contemporary military historian, award-winning author and former submarine sailor. He is a member of USSVI’s Central Florida Base and served aboard the USS Ulysses S. Grant SSBN 631 from 1968 to 1975. During that time, he made eight deterrent patrols. Read more about Richard and his work at www.richardslowry.com.

The 22^nd MEU has been on station in the Mediterranean for about two weeks now and we have done absolutely nothing to assist the people of Libya who continue to be slaughtered by their own government. We have spent all our time training and avoiding all other shipping. Once our coalition allies realize that the Obama Doctrine is to instigate but not participate, I fear that they too will back away from their mission of helping the Libyan people.

President Obama has publically stated two important goals for the resolution of the Libyan crisis: First, he has said that the fighting must stop and; second – Qaddafi must go.

The President acted decisively in halting the pro-Qaddafi forces’ advance on Benghazi when he ordered 26^th MEU’s Harriers to attack the advancing Libyan Army from the air. He has done nothing to work toward his other stated goal and, after our initial involvement, he has done nothing more to stop the fighting. Qaddafi will not just go away on Mr. Obama’s request. Once a president sets a goal, he needs to lead the military in developing plans to achieve that goal.

It appears that Mr. Obama’s plan is to let other nations take the reins while America watches from the grandstands, cheering NATO and the Coalition on from the sidelines. Mr. Obama has abdicated his seat as leader of the free world and obviously washed his hands of the entire mess.

All the while, four thousand Soldiers, Sailors and Marines are driving in circles in the Mederiteranean. We have left our families to wait at home, missed Easter and Mother’s Day, and ten new fathers were not home to see their sons and daughters born. I am all for the existence of an expeditionary force. I am all for our troops, but I must tell you that this is all a giant waste of time and money for 22^nd MEU to be sitting out here doing nothing. A young sailor, mother of two children, said to me today, “I feel like I’m in the Navy to help, but I’m not really helping.”

The MEU has the resources needed directly over our horizon. We could help evacuate refugees. We could provide our substantial medical facilities to wounded Libyans. We could contribute to the air raids or help in the maritime embargo or we could put boots on the ground to decapitate the Qaddafi regime.

Yet, we are traveling in circles.

Semper Fidelis,

Richard

Richard S. Lowry has been writing about the Marine Corps for many years. To learn more about his writing and how to purchase his latest book, visit www.richardslowry.com.

Greetings from USS Bataan, underway in the Atlantic

The young men and women of the United States Navy and Marine Corps live a life most of us could not imagine when they sail the seas for you and me. It is a Spartan life. They leave most of the comforts we take for granted as they sail over the horizon.

Many bring iPods, wet wipes and cookies but their lives are drastically changed when they sail out to sea. My first taste of their sacrifice was the loss of the information we have all become accustomed to receiving at home.

Americans are bombarded with information from the time we get up in the morning, to the time we go to bed at night. We turn on our television sets to get the weather and traffic as we prepare for our day; we listen to our radios as we drive to work; most of us have a computer on our desk where we are literally connected to the world through Facebook, Wikipedia and Google; and if there is some piece of unique information we want – there’s an app for that.

Out here on the sea, the Sailors and Marines have none of that. They are lucky if the satellite connection stays up long enough to receive their few email messages. They are elated if they can sit through a March Madness playoff game without losing the signal while the ball is in the air for the winning shot at the buzzer.

Out here, we get our weather by looking outside and measuring how far our chair slides across the deck in heavy seas. Out here, we get our news by word of mouth, to later realize that it was only rumor.

These young Sailors and Marines sacrifice so much every day just by being out here on the high seas. There are no McDonalds, 7-Elevens or local bars. There are no sidewalks, driveways or trees. Everyone is packed into this giant metal monster, plodding our way across the ocean.

We could see land a few days ago. After a week of crossing the Atlantic, the silhouette of mountains on the horizon was a fascination to the Sailors and Marines on the hanger deck. Everyone moved to get a look as word spread. A small group of Marines joked that they could swim for it and make it to shore: never mind the fact that the white capped waves were ten feet tall in a rolling sea and that land was at least fifteen miles away.

The short thrill dissipated as the land disappeared behind us and the men and women on the hanger deck returned to their daily routine. The Sailors and Marines are kept busy with maintenance, training and drilling but at the end of the day they only have a tiny rack to call their own. Every day is a Monday and hours slowly turn to days. Days drag on into weeks. And weeks give way to months. The only respite from the boredom is mail call.

Semper Fidelis,

Richard

Richard S. Lowry has been writing about the Marine Corps for many years. To learn more about his writing and how to purchase his latest book, visit www.richardslowry.com.

USS BATAAN, at sea – Sailors and Marines assigned to the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (BATARG) and 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) received a visit from the Commander, U.S. Second Fleet, April 11-12.

Vice Adm. Daniel Holloway visited each of the three ARG ships during the final two days of a rigorous integration training cycle designed to prepare the blue-green team for a broad range of amphibious operations.

During the three weeks of accelerated training, Sailors and Marines tested their ability to perform in such areas as flight deck and well deck operations, air and surface-defense exercises, replenishments-at-sea, small boat operations, medical evacuations, non-combatant evacuation, and tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel.

“I came out here for one reason only, and that is to congratulate you on the way you have come together during this training,” said Holloway in an address to Sailors and Marines on board USS Bataan (LHD 5). “It is no small feat to surge like you have. You have risen to the occasion and knocked this training out of the park.”

The integrated training, conducted by Strike Force Training Atlantic and the Marine Corps’ Special Operation Training Group, began shortly after the Marines embarked March 29.

For many Sailors and Marines, the training marked their first experience working together.

“This is my first deployment, and it took awhile to get used to being on a ship,” said Lance Cpl. Dijon Terry, assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 263. “I spent the first few days lost and trying to get used to the ship rocking. I feel much more comfortable now and I really like the Sailors and Marines I work with. As we head east, I know we’re ready.”

Holloway was present during the final training exercise, a complex scenario that tested each watch stander’s ability to make tactical decisions and work together as a unified team.

Holloway expressed his satisfaction with the considerable progress Sailors and Marines had achieved during their short time underway, as well as his confidence that the team will only continue to grow stronger as they ‘sharpen the sword’ and refine their skill sets.

“We are proud of you,” said Holloway. “You are the face of the Navy and Marine Corps and the face of the nation.”

The BATARG deployed three months ahead of their original schedule to relieve the Kearsarge ARG and 26th MEU, currently conducting operations in the Mediterranean Sea.

The BATARG is comprised of Bataan, amphibious transport dock ship USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19), and amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41).

For more information about Bataan, visit the ship’s website at http://www.bataan.navy.mil.
Reposted with permission from Bataan ARG Public Affairs

Semper Fidelis,

Richard

Richard S. Lowry has been writing about the Marine Corps for many years. To learn more about his writing and how to purchase his latest book, visit www.richardslowry.com.

Today, April 9, 2011, is the sixty-ninth anniversary of the fall of the Philippine island of Bataan and the beginning of the “Bataan Death March.” The brave men on Bataan had been under siege since the December 7^th attack on Pearl Harbor.  They held as long as they could without re-supply or reinforcement until they were finally forced to surrender. The 4500 men and women of USS Bataan held a moment of silence today in remembrance of that fateful day in history. It was the first time the ship has been quiet since my arrival eleven days ago.

Our days have been filled with exercises of every sort. We have practiced fires, flooding and defending ourselves from attacks from the air, land and sea. The air crews have been continuously honing their skills on the flight deck. The Air Boss and his staff have been directing the intricate ballet of launching and landing several different kinds of aircraft from this relatively small flight deck.

The ships’ officers have participated in this ballet by working with the Air Boss to correctly position the ship for “Flight Quarters” while avoiding other maritime traffic and, at times, conducting drills to practice evading and fighting off small boat attacks.

The Battalion Landing Team has not sat idly by. They have been practicing helicopter borne raids along with mechanized and motorized operations. These exercises include launching and retrieving our amphibious craft, further complicating the air operations and maneuvering of the ship.

All the while, the ships’ crew has been working to keep this small floating city running. They have manned the engine room, laundry and galleys. They have worked to maintain the sophisticated electronics and weapons systems and they have kept our satellite television and internet connection to the world working.

All the elements of the Blue/Green Team in the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group are coming together and are beginning to operate as a finely tuned instrument. Soon, the world will see the varied capabilities of the 22^nd Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked aboard Amphibious Ready Group 6.

Semper Fidelis,

Richard

Richard S. Lowry has been writing about the Marine Corps for many years. To learn more about his writing and how to purchase his latest book, visit www.richardslowry.com.

The Ground War Begins

Marine Lieutenant Colonel Eddie Ray led the 1st Marine Regiment’s charge to Baghdad as commander of the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) Battalion at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. This was not his first taste of battle. Ray is a decorated veteran of Operation Desert Storm. It is hard to believe that it has been twenty years since coalition forces ejected the Iraqi Army from Kuwait. Contrary to popular belief, the Iraqi Army stood and fought our advance into Kuwait. Following is a short, updated, excerpt from “The Gulf War Chronicles” which reveals the details of Ray’s first encounter with Saddam’s army.

By the end of the first day of the ground war, Task Force Ripper had Al Jaber Airfield, in Southern Kuwait, under siege and Task Force Papa Bear was protecting the right flank of the 1st Marine Division. General Thomas Draude, the 1st Marine Division’s assistant commander, had led the division’s “Jump” CP forward into Kuwait during the afternoon. He set up the forward command post somewhere between Task Force Ripper and Papa Bear with the burning Burqan Oil Field just east of his site. A young intelligence captain cautioned the general that he believed the Iraqis were massing for a counterattack in the center of the facility. Draude discounted the warning believing that no one could tolerate the heat from the dozens of fires raging throughout the field.

Throughout the night of 24-25 February, 1991, Marines received more and more information indicating that there was an Iraqi armor brigade and a mechanized infantry brigade on the 1st Marine Division’s right flank in the Burqan Oil Field. So, plans were made to flush these Iraqis out with a massive artillery barrage the next morning.

Prior to the artillery barrage, at 0715, the commanders of Task Force Papa Bear started a morning staff meeting at their field headquarters, just southwest of the Burqan Oil Field. As the Regiment’s senior officers were discussing the day’s plans, a single Iraqi tank and a Chinese-built Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) appeared not one hundred yards from the officers. Smoke from the oil fires was so bad on this morning that the Iraqis had wandered unseen through the Marine sentry posts. Fortunately these Iraqis had ventured out to surrender. Their senior officer volunteered that the rest of his brigade was close behind and that they wanted to fight.

Around 0815, five battalions of Marine artillery began pounding the suspected Iraqi positions in the Al Burqan Oil Field. Sixty-six howitzers fired two hundred forty-four rounds in the first volley. Three minutes later a second salvo unleashed nearly five hundred more rounds. The young intelligence officer had called it right. The Iraqi 5th Mechanized Division had spent all night massing in the cover of Burqan preparing to counterattack the 1st Marines.

Within fifteen minutes, RCT-1 reported: “T-62s everywhere, scattering like cockroaches from the Burqan Oil Field.” Papa Bear’s commanders immediately called for close air support. Captain Randall Hammond responded to the call for help. He brought his four Cobra helicopters in to attack the advancing Iraqis. Smoke still obscured the battlefield, but unlike the night before, the Arabian sun helped the Cobra pilots see through the billowing smoke. Scout Marines on the ground painted targets for the Cobra pilots while they launched their Hellfire missiles at the Iraqi armored vehicles. With the help of Hammond’s Cobras and other pilots, the 1st Tank Battalion beat back the brigade-sized attack on Papa Bear’s position after three and a half hours of fighting. The combined air-ground defense destroyed fifty tanks and twenty-five APCs. Papa Bear’s Marines herded three hundred dazed Iraqi soldiers from the battlefield.

Eight miles to the north, General Draude monitored Papa Bear’s battle from the 1st Division’s forward command post located on the western edge of the Emir’s Farm. The Emir’s Farm was a small oasis located directly to the east of the Division’s breach head. Only a rifle platoon and a LAV platoon from the 1st LAI Battalion protected the Division forward command post. Captain Eddie Steven Ray had his seven LAV-25s positioned on a screen line, about a quarter of a mile east of General Draude’s command unit. The rifle platoon was dug in to Ray’s north.

Around 0930, Iraqi artillery rounds began falling near the rifle platoon. Ray raced north in his LAV, to find Iraqi Armored Personnel Carriers (BMPs) disgorging troops on the edge of the oasis. Ray and the rifle platoon opened fire on the advancing Iraqis. Realizing that his division commander was in immediate danger, Captain Ray called for his platoon to come north and engage the enemy.

Meanwhile, General Draude and his staff watched as an Iraqi mechanized brigade attacked out of the oasis. Draude turned to an aid and quipped. “If I die today, my wife is going to kill me.” The 1st Marine Division’s Operations Officer, Colonel Jerry Humble, immediately called Task Force Ripper for reinforcements (armed with TOW missiles), then called I MEF headquarters.

“We need some help!” he exclaimed. “Send all the Cobras you can.”

A MEF staff officer replied that everybody was in a fight. Colonel Humble raised the handset into the air, waited a few seconds, then said: “…we’re in a REAL fight at Division Forward.”

“Oh, shit, I hear.” the staff officer answered.

Meanwhile, Ray began picking off BMPs with his 25-mm cannon fire. Within minutes, Ray’s other LAVs were on line. Artillery support was out of the question. The enemy was too close. Within moments, two Cobra gunships swooped in at low level. Ray directed their rocket fire by shooting his 25-mm cannon at Iraqi infantry positions.

Then Ray counterattacked. Supported by the gunships overhead, Ray’s seven LAVs rolled forward toward the oasis. More Cobras arrived and the LAV platoon pressed the attack, destroying everything in sight. Captain Ray and his men swept through the oasis. The Marines halted on the eastern edge of the Emir’s Farm. Thirty-eight burning Iraqi armored vehicles lay scattered behind them. Ray had not only protected the command post but his aggressive counterattack completely destroyed the Iraqi brigade. Captain Ray received the Navy Cross for his courage under fire that day.

Discover what really happened in Desert Storm. Visit www.gwchronicles.com and purchase your copy of “The Gulf War Chronicles” today.

The Government Center

“On November 10, 1775, a Corps of Marines was

created by a resolution of the Continental Congress.

Since that date many thousands of men have borne

the name Marine. In memory of them it is fitting that

we who are Marines should commemorate the

birthday of our Corps by calling to mind the

glories of its long and illustrious history…”

MajGen John A. Lejeune, USMC

1 November, 1921

The United States Marine Corps’ 229^th birthday would be a blue sky, sunny day in Fallujah. The soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines of the Task Force Blue Diamond would have little opportunity to celebrate on this day of intense combat. As Kilo Company, 3/5 prepared for the coming fight through the Jolan District, Captain Drew McNulty went on the HET[1] loudspeaker to read General Lejeune’s and the Commandant’s birthday message. McNulty’s voice echoed through the assembly area in the early morning light. After reading the birthday messages, he concluded with, “slow is smooth and smooth is Fast. Today, I expect the enemy to stand and fight. Kill him and kill him twice. HooRah, Semper Fi and happy birthday.”[2]

The enemy woke up in the center of town and found that Avenger had occupied the Government Center during the night. They started firing on the Marines around 0730. Cunningham’s Marines returned the fire from every building that faced south. Enemy snipers and machine gunners continued their fierce duel with the Marines. Meyers’ tanks knocked down a wall and Markley and Meyers pulled their tanks up in between the parade ground bleachers, next to the buildings where Cunningham’s Marines were taking fire. They started shooting across MICHIGAN into an insurgent-filled mosque and hotel on the other side of the main east-west thoroughfare.

Meyers and Markley were pounding the enemy from the protected positions among the concrete bleachers. The enemy fired back from the mosque and charged out in groups of two or three onto MICHIGAN with RPGs and AKs. Most were quickly mowed down by the tankers’ machine gun fire. One determined insurgent ran to flank Meyers’ tank on his right and fired his RPG. The rocket whooshed toward Panzer 6 and exploded against the side of the tank, rocking the entire vehicle off the ground a couple inches. The anti-armor projectile penetrated the hull, nearly missing the fuel cells. Fortunately, none of Meyers’ crew was injured. They kept fighting. They would worry about the damage later.

After quickly checking to insure that he wasn’t wounded, Ball returned to scanning for targets, his turret whining like a vacuum cleaner as it rotated from side to side. He caught a glimpse of the tip of an RPG at the corner of the building next to the mosque. He told Meyers and got the order to fire a main gun round. Ball fired at the corner and watched the HEAT[3] round blow away the side of the building. Bodies flew when the round exploded. Meyers and Markley fought from their protected positions for most of the morning.

Colonel Tucker, the RCT-7 Commanding Officer, had handed out MRE pound cakes and cards with the Commandant’s message to all the squad leaders. They were told to read the birthday message to their Marines when there was a break in the fighting. Then, they would slice the birthday cakes in their timeless ceremony. As a final ceremonial touch, Tucker had asked his commanders to try to play the Marines Hymn at some point during the day.

During a lull in the fighting on the afternoon of the 10^th, LtCol Gary Brandl turned to Tucker, his boss. “Maybe we should play the Marines Hymn now.” Brandl called over to the Army psyops team and told them to play the Hymn over their loudspeakers. As soon as the music started, every enemy fighter within earshot opened fire. They were either incensed at the brazen taunt or they anticipated that the music was heralding an attack. They lost their discipline and began showing themselves, firing on the Marines. The Marines cut down the exposed fighters as if they were shooting pop-ups at a carnival shooting gallery.

The Marines Hymn was playing. Brandl’s Marines were killing the exposed enemy fighters. The spontaneous battle raged until the final note. As if on queue, the enemy quit firing. Brandl turned to Tucker, “That worked pretty well, let’s play it again.”[4]

Three-Five had nearly finished its second long day of clearing. A few more buildings and Kilo Company could rest for the day. Suddenly, McNulty’s Marines encountered two enemy positions a block apart. Sergeant Jeffery Kirk single-handedly assaulted a machine gun team in the first house. He couldn’t seem to find a spot to get a clean shot at the machine gunners without exposing himself. Wounded, Kirk had to fall back again and again. But, he continued his assault. Finally, on his third try, he overcame the enemy machine gunners and killed them.

As Kirk’s fight raged, three close friends, Private First Class Chris Adlesperger, Lance Corporal Erick Hodges and Corporal Ryan Sunnerville came to a corner house, only a block east of Kirk. They entered their umpteenth courtyard of the day. Lance Corporals Alston Hays and John Aylmer and Corporal Jeremy Baker were right behind them in the gate to the street. Adlesperger went to the right and kicked in the first door. Hodges and Sunnerville headed for the second door across the courtyard and walked into a hail of machinegun fire from inside the building. The enemy had been lying in wait for the Marines. One had positioned himself so that he could shoot out into the courtyard through a small hole in the wall. His first burst of gunfire cut Hodges down.

Inside the courtyard, Navy Corpsman Alonso Rogero and Sunnerville were also hit, Rogero in the stomach and Sunnerville in the leg. The Marines exchanged fire with eleven insurgents, less than twenty feet away. Adlesperger rushed to Rogero and Sunnerville’s aid, firing toward the hidden machinegun position. All three made it into an outside alcove out of the enemy’s line of fire.

Aylmer and Hays had just started into the courtyard when the enemy machine gunner opened fire. They hugged the left wall and backed out into the street. Aylmer grabbed Hays. “Hang on.” He told Hays, “just chill right here until we know what’s going on.” Corporal Baker could see Adlesperger, Sunnerville and Rogero huddled just inside the courtyard gate. He waited for the machine gun to stop and then he rushed through the gate. Hays crossed the line of fire behind Baker and rushed into an adjacent courtyard, leaving Aylmer at the corner of the house. Inside the courtyard, Baker noticed a stairway in their alcove, leading to the roof. Baker stood at the door covering the courtyard and he sent Adlesperger to the roof.

The Darkhorse Marines had stumbled into a Chechnyan ambush. The enemy had planned to surprise the Marines as they entered the courtyard and then kill more Marines rushing to their aid. Down the alley, another enemy machine gunner patiently waited on an adjoining rooftop. With the courtyard now empty, the Muj gunner inside the house continued to fire into Hodges’ lifeless body.

Adlesperger cleared the stairway and checked the roof and then raced back to Baker and the others. “The roof is clear,” he told Baker. Baker and Adlesperger helped Sunnerville and Rogero to their feet and up the stairs, none too soon. The enemy threw several grenades into the courtyard and then they went on the attack. Several enemy fighters rushed the stairs. Adlesperger cut them down as they rounded the corner in the alcove.

Lieutenant Cragholm was just south of the house. When the shooting started, he had to make a decision – attack or take cover. In an instant, he pulled a grenade from his vest and started to round the corner into the open. Corporal Fernandez placed his hand on Cragholm’s shoulder. “Sir! No,” the corporal cautioned.

Cragholm shrugged the corporal’s hand from his shoulder and started to move forward. Fernandez grabbed Cragholm, spun him around. “Dude! NO!” He shouted into his platoon commander’s face just as a hundred machine gun rounds peppered the wall just outside the courtyard. Had Cragholm moved into the open, he would have been dead. Cragholm, stopped, took a deep breath and immediately calmed. “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” From this point forward, he became a warrior, not an excited, green lieutenant.

Aylmer was in the second machine gunner’s line of fire. Bullets hit all around. One punctured his pant leg. Miraculously, none of the rounds found their target. Aylmer waited for the gunner to stop to reload and then he sprinted south in Hays’ footsteps into the adjacent courtyard.

Cragholm started positioning his men to support Adlesperger and his wounded comrades. Corporal Terrence van Doorn’s Third Squad rushed to the adjacent rooftop and found a brick wall separating them from the trapped Marines. They pushed on the wall and it toppled over. Still, the enemy machine gunners were holding Kilo Company at bay. The Marines could not get at the barricaded enemy fighters and they couldn’t call in artillery or close air support while Adlesperger, Rogero and Sunnerville were on the roof.

Inside, two more insurgents charged into the courtyard. Adlesperger greeted them with a fragmentation grenade. One tried to run up the stairs to avoid the explosion, the other ran into the street. Adlesperger shot the man as he ran up the stairs and a dozen Marines sprayed the other man as soon as he stepped into the street. Then, three more insurgents charged out of the house into the courtyard. One tried to get Hodges’ SAW. Adlesperger killed all three from his perch above.

McNulty was in the street between Kirk’s and Hodges’ houses. He had the company’s FiST team and his CAAT vehicles with him when the fighting broke out. He could hear the machine gun fire and his Marines yelling, but he couldn’t figure out where the fight was developing. Gunshots rang out on his right as Kirk made his repeated charges toward the entrenched enemy machine gunners and then shots echoed on his left as Adlesperger fought to protect his friends. An AMTRAC was parked just ahead of the CAAT vehicle. McNulty quickly ordered the up-gunner to open fire. The Marine opened fire on Adlesperger’s house at point blank range, with his .50 caliber machine gun, chipping away large chunks of the building with each round.

McNulty rushed across the street with his First Sergeant, Steve Knox, and some of Taylor’s SEALs to get a better view of the fight. They rushed a building that was catty-corner to Adlesperger’s house, quickly cleared the rooms and then rushed to the roof.

Baker kept trying to call his company commander to tell him that Hodges was trapped in the courtyard. All McNulty could make out was “Hajis in the courtyard.”

By now, van Doorn and his squad had reached Baker, Adlesperger, Sunnerville and Rogero. They helped them climb onto their roof and then rushed the wounded down to a waiting casevac vehicle.

As McNulty positioned himself to command the assault, nearly all of Kilo Company was moving in on Hodge’s house. Once McNulty understood the situation, he moved back down into the street and crossed over to the south wall of the courtyard. He ordered the AMTRAC to push in the blue courtyard gate. The moment the track backed away from the crumpled gate, McNulty pitched two grenades into the courtyard.

By now, Adlesperger, Baker and van Doorn’s squad were down on the street. Adlesperger’s face was bloodied by shrapnel. His blouse was riddled with bullet holes, but he refused to be casevaced until Hodges’ body was recovered. Finally, Baker, also with a bloody face, could finally report to his Company Commander. He told him, “Hodges is in the courtyard.”

McNulty immediately ordered his Marines into the courtyard. Adlesperger led the three-man stack through the collapsed courtyard wall with Baker and McNulty following. As McNulty entered the courtyard, he noticed a wounded insurgent reaching for his weapon. McNulty turned and shot and killed the last holdout as Adlesperger and Baker looked for Hodges’ body. They finally found their friend, buried in the rubble of the collapsed wall. They cleared the rubble and removed his body. Then McNulty had the house completely demolished. Adlesperger, Hodges and Sunnerville had entered an enemy command center. By the time Darkhorse’s fight was over, the Marines had killed fifty enemy fighters in that area. From this point forward the enemy would fight to the death with a fatal fanaticism.

Read the entire story of the fight to free Fallujah in New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah.

[2] Captain Andrew McNulty, USMC. Raw ABC news footage taken by Geoffrey Thorpe-Willett. Disk #4 18:45

[3] High Explosive, Anti-Tank.

[4] Col Tucker telephone interview, 1/10/08.