The Other Shoe

David G. Bellon is a major in the United States Marine Corps. He's currently serving in Iraq and his father has begun posting his son's letters home on a website he started called The Green Side. Here is an excerpt from a recent entry (photos added):

There is an image burned into my brain that I hope I never forget.  We came up behind 3/5 one day as the lead squads were working down the Byzantine streets of the Jolan area.  An assault team of two Marines ran out from behind cover and put a rocket into a wall of an enemy strongpoint.  Before the smoke cleared the squad  behind them  was up and moving through the hole and clearing the house.  Just down the block another squad was doing the same thing.  The house was cleared quickly and the Marines were running down the street to the next contact.  Even in the midst of that mayhem, it was an awesome site.

The fighting has been incredibly close inside the city.  The enemy is willing to die and is literally waiting until they see the whites of the eyes of the Marines before they open up.  Just two days ago, as a firefight raged in close quarters, one of the interpreters yelled for the enemy in the house to surrender.  The enemy yelled back that it was better to die and go to heaven than to surrender to infidels.  This exchange is a graphic window into the world that the Marines and Soldiers have been fighting in these last 10 days.

I will end with a couple of stories of individual heroism that you may not have heard yet.  I was told about both of these incidents shortly after they occurred.  No doubt some of the facts will change slightly but I am confident that the meat is correct.

The first is a Marine from 3/5.  His name is Corporal Yeager (Chuck Yeager's grandson).  As the Marines cleared and apartment building, they got to the top floor and the point man kicked in the door.  As he did so, an enemy grenade and a burst of gunfire came out.  The explosion and enemy fire took off the point man's leg.  He was then immediately shot in the arm as he lay in the doorway.  Corporal Yeager tossed a grenade in the room and ran into the doorway and into the enemy fire in order to pull his buddy back to cover.  As he was dragging the wounded Marine to cover, his own grenade came back through the doorway.  Without pausing, he reached down and threw the grenade back through the door while he heaved his buddy to safety.  The grenade went off inside the room and Cpl Yeager threw another in.  He immediately entered the room following the second explosion.  He gunned down three enemy all within three feet of where he stood and then let fly a third grenade as he backed out of the room to complete the evacuation of the wounded Marine.  You have to understand that a grenade goes off within 5 seconds of having the pin pulled.  Marines usually let them "cook off" for a second or two before tossing them in.   Therefore, this entire episode took place in less than 30 seconds. 

The second example comes from 3/1.  Cpl Mitchell is a squad leader.  He was wounded as his squad was clearing a house when some enemy threw pineapple grenades down on top of them.  As he was getting triaged, the doctor told him that he had been shot through the arm.  Cpl Mitchell  told the doctor that he had actually been shot "a couple of days ago" and had given himself self aide on the wound.  When the doctor got on him about not coming off the line, he firmly told the doctor that he was a squad leader and did not have time to get treated as his men were still fighting.  There are a number of Marines who have been wounded multiple times but refuse to leave their fellow Marines.

It is incredibly humbling to walk among such men.  They fought as hard as any Marines in history and deserve to be remembered as such.

Quite right. God bless these guys.

They are indeed the equal of any Marines in history. They, along with their comrades-in-arms in the other branches of service, are America's best.

Our absolute best.

-posted by Charlie Eklund 

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• #1 Comment from suzopera 
  11/24/04 10:16 PM | Permalink

  A moving story, made particularly fascinating by the tale of young Yeager.  Given that his sound-barrier-breaking grandfather was even more famous for his laconic style and "cool head" under positively death defying circumstances; it's interesting to read evidence that the same stress-resistant demeanor (or gene) has been passed to a subsequent generation.