First Fights in Fallujah: Marines During Operation Vigilant Resolve, in Iraq, April 2004

The battle for Fallujah in April 2004 in the words of the Marines who fought it. In March 2004, the unprovoked ambush killing and desecration of the bodies of American civilian security contractors in Fallujah, Iraq, caused the National Command Authorities in Washington, DC. to demand that the newly arrived Marine Expeditionary Force there take action against the perpetrators and other insurgent forces. Planned Stability and Support Operations were cast aside as insurgent fighters dared the Marines to enter Fallujah. Marine infantrymen, tankers, helicopter crews, and amphibious vehicle drivers all pitched into high-intensity battles and firefights during the first fights of Fallujah in April 2004. Across the board cooperation and innovation marked these fighting Marines in combined arms fights that no one expected. Marines fought in the streets, conducted house-to-house searches, cleared buildings of enemy, and used tank main guns in direct support of urban environment operations. Helicopter crews supported operations on the ground with rockets and machine-gun fire, and Amtrac Marines transported forces to face enemy RPG and machine-gun fire. Marines from infantry squad members to a battalion commander were interviewed by Marine Corps field historians within days or weeks of the events at nearby combat outposts and camps. This book combines these interview notes and the words of the men themselves to create a unique narrative of Marines in this combat. Casualties only stiffened the will of the Marines to crush the enemy. A late April political plan called for the withdrawal of Marine forces from the city, and Marines at every level, though frustrated, understood the need to allow this attempted solution to play itself out. AUTHOR: Lieutenant Colonel David E. Kelly received his commission in 1971, and served as an infantry officer with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion 4th Marines with an Amphibious Readiness Group (ARG) off the coast of Vietnam in 1972-73. Prior to retirement from the Reserves in 1999 he was Operations Officer for the Marine Field History Detachment. He volunteered to return to active duty to deploy to Iraq in 2004 as senior Field Historian in order to conduct interviews with Marines and Navy personnel at all levels in Iraq. He is a retired high school teacher living in Springfield, Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction Chapter 1: Lay of the Land - Field history team travel and arrival Chapter 2: Marine Tankers and Trackers - Marines in tanks supporting infantry, and daring rescue of a surrounded Marine infantry squad from Bravo 1/5 Chapter 3: Weapons Company, 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment (1/5) Chapter 4 : Marine Aviation - Staff officers, helicopter pilots and crew members (supporting operations in Fallujah) Chapter 5: Infantry - 2nd Battalion 2nd Marine Regiment (2/2) Chapter 6: Infantry - 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment (2/1) Chapter 7: Infantry - Bravo Company, 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment (1/5) Chapter 8: Final Thoughts - “Sir, what’s gonna happen with this interview?”

About the Author :
Lieutenant Colonel David E. Kelly received his commission in 1971, and served as an infantry officer with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion 4th Marines with an Amphibious Readiness Group (ARG) off the coast of Vietnam in 1972-73. Prior to retirement from the Reserves in 1999 he was Operations Officer for the Marine Field History Detachment. He volunteered to return to active duty to deploy to Iraq in 2004 as senior Field Historian in order to conduct interviews with Marines and Navy personnel at all levels in Iraq. He is a retired high school teacher living in Springfield, Pennsylvania.

Review :
[A]n anthology of raw, brutal eye-witness accounts of the Marines sent to clear the Iraqi city of Fallujah of insurrectionists in the early months of 2004.