My sons unit at the time.
About 16 of the men attended this ceremony.
We lived in Leon Valley in the mid 1990. No bridge, just a low-water-crossing.
I hope everyone remembers the fallen heroes and those who still serve.
All gave some, some gave all.
Great honer, great story.
Headline stinks. He never lived to be a veteran.
Plus they call this Marine a soldier.
Semper Fi Lance Cpl. Stephen Perez
Two things. Poorly written article. Merged the Iraq operation with the building of the new bridge here.
We need to know more about this veteran and what his unit was doing (i.e. helping some kind of construction activity, possibly for the Iraqi people).
I would like to know the name of the unit involved. My son was one of the first American soldiers into Iraq. Attached to Kuwaiti engineers taking down Iraqi sandberms, filling in tank traps, land mine removal etc on March 22, 2003.
Then my son and his unit, the 299th (Army Reserve), MBR (Multiple Bridge Role) Company, Ft. Belvoir, Va., drove the 350 miles from Kuwait (Arefjan or Camp Liberty) to their operational area on the Euphrates River at the bridge at Hindaya, for their “ribbon bridge” construction operation under fire.
Then they split up, some going north for bridge replacement construction at Mosul, while others did ground patrol mopping up, check points, taking prisoners and seizing arms caches. Then drove north of Baghdad to Balad AF Base as their staging area for supply runs, etc.
The won a Presidential Unit Citation for their Euphrates operation in putting up the first Ribbon Bridge in combat.
The Army and Marine engineer units were fantastic in their work, usually under enemy first during the war, and then for their humanitarian efforts after the fighting stopped for a while.
A Hoorah to your son and his unit. Well done.