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Ehlers was awarded the Medal of Honor ‘for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty’ on June 9 and 10, 1944, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. He ‘repeatedly led his men against heavily defended enemy strong points exposing himself to deadly hostile fire whenever the situation required heroic and courageous leadership.’ Ehlers heroically defended his unit from ‘withering machine gun fire’ and mortars, personally killing at least seven Nazi soldiers, taking out multiple enemy positions

NAVAL SUPPORT FACILITY INDIAN HEAD, Md., Dec. 11, 2008 – The first active-duty unit dedicated to supporting U.S. civilian authorities in the event of a nuclear, biological or chemical attack is wrapping up three days of intensive training its members hope they never have to apply in real life. Army Spc. Dale Soniger from the 3rd Infantry Division’s Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery, uses the “jaws of life” to extract mock casualties from a damaged vehicle at the Raymond M. Downey Sr. Responder Training Facility in Indian Head, Md. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jared S. Eastman  (Click...

The last of the five Army brigades to deploy with the “troop surge” in Iraq will return in July after a 13-month deployment, during which soldiers detained more than 800 terrorist suspects and helped foster Iraqi self-governance. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team has operated in the Arab Jabour area of southeastern Baghdad, where the number of attacks plummeted from about 30 a week when they arrived in May 2007 to about one a week now. “All in all, it's been a very successful operation for us,” Army Col. Terry Ferrell, 2nd Brigade Combat Team commander, told reporters...

FORT STEWART, GA (WTOC) - The man who commands the Third Infantry Division returned home to the Coastal Empire with more than 200 soldiers Monday. Major General Rick Lynch reflected on his division's success in Iraq and the support they felt from being back at home. "In the course of life, you get a choice between reading history and making history, and by God, we made history over the past 15 months," he said to hundreds of family members and soldiers at Fort Stewart Monday. Minutes earlier at Hunter Army Airfield, he talked about the history Third Infantry made in...

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq, May 22, 2008 – As grand accomplishments go, a Task Force Marne aviation brigade’s 200th combat air assault mission during their current deployment to Iraq went off with as little fanfare as possible. An uneventful mission is just fine with the pilots of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 4th Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, air assault unit. “For us it went exactly as planned,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Nigel Huebscher, the mission’s flight lead. “We hit the ‘time on target’ spot on the [landing zone] and performed the mission as close to flawlessly as...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE ISKAN – Coalition forces are conducting joint patrols with the Iraqi army throughout the fish farm areas of North Babil, approximately 50 kilometers south of Baghdad. On one joint patrol, Soldiers of Company B, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3th Infantry Division, evaluated the progress of fish farmers cleaning their farms preparing to receive economic aid from organizations such as the U.S. Agency for International Development. A year ago, the fish farms were not operational due to al-Qaida influence. However, with improved security, the fish farms are quickly becoming the major source of...

BAGHDAD – Approximately, 3,500 Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division are redeploying to Fort Benning, Georgia, in the next several weeks.The 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team deployed in March 2007 to secure the Mada’in Qada in Baghdad Province east of the Diyala River.The brigade was one of five units deployed in support of the surge.The 3rd HBCT’s operations in Mada’in Qada helped improve the safety and quality of life for approximately 120,000 people living there. Its contributions over the last 14 months have led to improvements in security and the capture of more than 600 criminals, numerous cache...

EFP cache found in Warij Saturday, 03 May 2008 Multi-National Corps – Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory APO AE 09342 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RELEASE No. 20080503-10 May 3, 2008 EFP cache found in Warij FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq – Coalition forces found a weapons cache of explosively formed penetrators in the southern Baghdad community of Warij May 2. Soldiers from 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division were on patrol in Warij when they discovered four EFPs hidden in a closet shelf in a factory office. A brand new 107 mm rocket was...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE ISKAN, Iraq, April 29, 2008 – Residents of the Hay Jasmen neighborhood in Musayyib, Iraq, soon will walk on improved roads instead of dirt and jagged rocks, part of transformation that has prompted a local leader to say he wants to change the community’s name to reflect its new ambiance. Roads in the Hay Jasmen neighborhood of Musayyib, Iraq, are being refinished. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The roads are nearly complete; workers are in the finishing stages of constructing gutters on the sides of the streets. In addition to the road refinishings,...

I conducted a lengthy interview with major General Rick Lynch, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division yesterday. The transcript is here. The audio is here. The enormous progress that the surge has brought to Iraq is detailed by the general, but so was Iran's continued operations in Iraq, operations that kill Americans: You see, what we're trying to do, Hugh, is to trace the rat line back where it came from. See, I've lost 147 soldiers under my command since I've been here in the last fourteen months. Many of those soldiers were killed by explosive foreign penetrators that are...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq – A local tip led Iraqi Security Forces to the largest explosively-formed penetrator cache found to date in Multi-National Division – Center’s area of operation, April 2. The munitions were discovered in a 6-ton truck in a garage in al Qasim, Iraq. The cache contained more than 1000 EFP components, more than 3000 pounds of explosives and multiple 107 mm rockets and stands. The cache also included more than 200 C-4 demolition charges, more than 10,000 feet of detonation cord, more than 2,000 projectile boosters, 10 devices used to detonate improvised explosive devices, 250 PKC...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Coalition forces, residents of Maderiyah and a team of Iraqi Army Soldiers helped clear five improvised explosive devices from roads north of Joint Security Site W-1 March 29. During the mission, Soldiers of Battery B, 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, a route clearance team and an explosive ordnance disposal team successfully cleared a vital road for residents of Maderiyah and Kutimiyah. First Lt. Samuel Scott Gilstrap, executive officer of Battery B, said when Coalition forces arrived in the area, the road was impassable and the bridge which existed...

A young Iraqi girl holds her new Beanie Baby, donated by children of North Hills Christian School in Salisbury, N.C. Soldiers of Company D, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, distributed the toys to children from the Oman and Nassir schools in al Buaytha, March 24. Photo by 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs. FOB KALSU — Iraqi school children in Al Buaytha received toys from children their age from halfway around the world, March 24. Soldiers of Company D, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry...

This week the nation marked the fifth anniversary of our presence in Iraq. It is past time to remember the liberators. Now at the end of their third tour they are preparing to leave: the 1st "Raider" Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division deployed to Al Anbar province 15 months ago as an element of the "surge" force. Its commander, Col. John W. Charlton, is responsible not only for his Army units, but also for Navy, Marine and Air Force personnel operating with them. His area of operations -- AO Topeka -- covers 8,900 sq. miles. From the outset his focus was...

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2008 – Iraqi judges surveyed the new government center in Salman Pak, Iraq, on March 10, during their first visit back since 2005 when they were forced to relocate by extremist groups made the area too dangerous to remain. Judge Razak, an investigative judge, second from the left, speaks with leaders of the 3rd Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team about bringing rule of law back to Salman Pak, March 10. This was the first time judges had returned to Salman Pak since extremists forced them to leave three years ago. U.S. Army photo by Spc....

Five US soldiers were killed and three others wounded in a bomb blast in central Baghdad on Monday, the US Military said, in the worst single attack on US forces in Baghdad in months. An Iraqi interpreter was also wounded in the explosion, which hit the soldiers while they were on foot patrol, the military said in a statement. (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide bomber killed five U.S. soldiers as they chatted with shop owners while on a foot patrol in central Baghdad on Monday, the deadliest attack on American forces in the heavily fortified capital in more than eight months. The bombing, just four days after nearly simultaneous blasts killed scores of people in a vibrant Shiite commercial district, again showed the insurgents' ability to strike inside a capital secured by hundreds of security checkpoints, U.S.-funded neighborhood watch groups and hundreds of miles of blast walls that surround buildings and cordon off districts. .... At any rate, the...

FOB HAMMER — Coalition leaders from the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team (HBCT) met with leaders of the Iraqi security forces (ISF) in the Mada’in Qada, March 5, at Forward Operating Base Hammer. Col. Wayne W. Grigsby, Jr., commander of the 3rd HBCT, hosted the meeting to discuss security in the qada, the brigade’s area of operation, and to welcome Maj. Gen. Kassim, commander of the 9th Iraqi Army (IA) Division. “From this day on, you are part of this family,” said Grigsby, from Prince George’s County, Md. “We are all working together to support the mayor and the good...

WASHINGTON, March 6, 2008 – U.S. troops have killed or detained some 35 suspected terrorists in an ongoing operation launched last month to pursue insurgents southeast of Baghdad, a military official said. Operation Marne Grand Slam also has produced civic results in Salman Pak, about 15 miles south of the Iraqi capital, where efforts to bolster the local government and economy are seeing success. “The big effect, from a brigade commander standpoint, was to strengthen the governance line of operation with the strengthening of the economics line of the operation,” Army Col. Wayne Grigsby said during a conference call today....

Residents of Zambraniyah move through a Coalition checkpoint as they return to their homes, after fleeing al-Qaida in Iraq clashes with Coalition forces. Photo by Staff Sgt. Michael Paredes. ZAMBRANIYAH — Nearly 1,000 residents returned to Zambraniyah throughout the last week of January after learning the area had been secured by Coalition and Iraqi forces. When heavy fighting in the Zambraniyah area broke out in early January, Coalition Forces advised families to evacuate the area to stay out of danger. As residents fled, blending in was difficult for al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) members, enabling Soldiers to identify and target them....