On Nov 13, 2010, Lt General John Kelly, USMC, gave a speech to the
Semper Fi Society of St. Louis , MO. This was four days after his son,
Lt Robert Kelly, USMC, was killed by an IED while on his 3rd Combat
tour. During his speech, General Kelly spoke about the dedication and
valor of our young men and women who step forward each and every day to
protect us. During the speech, he never mentioned the loss of his own
son. He closed the speech with the moving account of the last six
seconds in the lives of two young Marines who died with rifles blazing
to protect their brother Marines. "I will leave you with a story about
the kind of people they are, about the quality of the steel in their
backs, about the kind of dedication they bring to our country while they
serve in uniform and forever after as veterans.
Two
years ago when I was the Commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, in
fact, the 22nd of April 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 "The
Walking Dead," and 2/8 were switching out in Ramadi. One battalion in
the closing days of their deployment going home very soon, the other
just starting its seven-month combat tour. Two Marines, Corporal
Jonathan Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 22 and 20 years old
respectively, one from each battalion, were assuming the watch together
at the entrance gate of an outpost that contained a makeshift barracks
housing 50 Marines. The same broken down ramshackle building was also
home to 100 Iraqi police, also my men and our allies in the fight
against the terrorists in Ramadi, a city until recently the most
dangerous city on earth and owned by Al Qaeda.
Yale was
from Virginia, Haerter was from Long Island. They were from two
completely different worlds. Had they not joined the Marines they would
never have met each other, or understood that multiple America 's exist
simultaneously depending on one's race, education level, economic
status, and where you might have been born. But they were Marines,
combat Marines, forged in the same crucible of Marine training, and
because of this bond they were brothers as close, or closer, than if
they were born of the same woman. The mission orders they received from
the sergeant squad leader I am sure went something like, "Okay you two
clowns, stand this post and let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles
pass. You clear?" I am also sure Yale and Haerter then rolled their eyes
and said in unison something like, "Yes Sergeant," with just enough
attitude that made the point without saying the words, "No kidding
‘sweetheart’, we know what we're doing." They then relieved two other
Marines on watch and took up their post at the entry control point of
Joint Security Station Nasser, in the Sophia section of Ramadi, Al
Anbar, Iraq.
A few minutes later a large blue truck
turned down the alley way - perhaps 60-70 yards in length, and sped its
way through the serpentine of concrete jersey walls. The truck stopped
just short of where the two were posted and detonated, killing them both
catastrophically. Twenty-four brick masonry houses were damaged or
destroyed. A mosque 100 yards away collapsed. The truck's engine came to
rest two hundred yards away knocking most of a house down before it
stopped. Our explosive experts reckoned the blast was made of 2,000
pounds of explosives. Two died, and because these two young infantrymen
didn't have it in their DNA to run from danger, they saved 150 of their
Iraqi and American brothers-in-arms.
When I read the
situation report about the incident a few hours after it happened I
called the regimental commander for details as something about this
struck me as different. Marines dying or being seriously wounded is
commonplace in combat. We expect Marines regardless of rank or MOS to
stand their ground and do their duty, and even die in the process, if
that is what the mission takes. But this just seemed different. The
regimental commander had just returned from the site and he agreed, but
reported that there were no American witnesses to the event - just Iraqi
police. I figured if there was any chance of finding out what actually
happened and then to decorate the two Marines to acknowledge their
bravery, I'd have to do it as a combat award that requires two
eye-witnesses and we figured the bureaucrats back in Washington would
never buy Iraqi statements. If it had any chance at all, it had to come
under the signature of a general officer.
I
traveled to Ramadi the next day and spoke individually to a half-dozen
Iraqi police all of whom told the same story. The blue truck turned down
into the alley and immediately sped up as it made its way through the
serpentine. They all said, "We knew immediately what was going on as
soon as the two Marines began firing." The Iraqi police then related
that some of them also fired, and then to a man, ran for safety just
prior to the explosion. All survived. Many were injured, some seriously.
One of the Iraqis elaborated and with tears welling up said, "They'd
run like any normal man would to save his life." "What he didn't know
until then," he said, "And what he learned that very instant, was that
Marines are not normal." Choking past the emotion he said, "Sir, in the
name of God no sane man would have stood there and done what they did."
"No sane man." "They saved us all."
What
we didn't know at the time, and only learned a couple of days later
after I wrote a summary and submitted both Yale and Haerter for
posthumous Navy Crosses, was that one of our security cameras, damaged
initially in the blast, recorded some of the suicide attack. It happened
exactly as the Iraqis had described it. It took exactly six seconds
from when the truck entered the alley until it detonated. You can watch
the last six seconds of their young lives. Putting myself in their heads
I supposed it took about a second for the two Marines to separately
come to the same conclusion about what was going on once the truck came
into their view at the far end of the alley. Exactly no time to talk it
over, or call the sergeant to ask what they should do. Only enough time
to take half an instant and think about what the sergeant told them to
do only a few minutes before, "Let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles
pass." The two Marines had about five seconds left to live. It took
maybe another two seconds for them to present their weapons, take aim,
and open up. By this time the truck was half-way through the barriers
and gaining speed the whole time. Here, the recording shows a number of
Iraqi police, some of whom had fired their AKs, now scattering like the
normal and rational men they were - some running right past the Marines.
They had three seconds left to live. For about two seconds more, the
recording shows the Marines' weapons firing non-stop, the truck's
windshield exploding into shards of glass as their rounds take it apart
and tore in to the body of the ( I deleted) who is trying to get past
them to kill their brothers - American and Iraqi-bedded down in the
barracks totally unaware of the fact that their lives at that moment
depended entirely on two Marines standing their ground.
If
they had been aware, they would have known they were safe because two
Marines stood between them and a crazed suicide bomber. The recording
shows the truck careening to a stop immediately in front of the two
Marines. In all of the instantaneous violence Yale and Haerter never
hesitated. By all reports and by the recording, they never stepped back.
They never even started to step aside. They never even shifted their
weight. With their feet spread shoulder width apart, they leaned into
the danger, firing as fast as they could work their weapons. They had
only one second left to live. The truck explodes. The camera goes blank.
Two young men go to their God. Six seconds. Not enough time to think
about their families, their country, their flag, or about their lives or
their deaths, but more than enough time for two very brave young men to
do their duty into eternity. That is the kind of people who are on
watch all over the world tonight - for you.
We Marines believe that God gave America the greatest gift he could
bestow to man while he lived on this earth - freedom. We also believe he
gave us another gift nearly as precious - our soldiers, sailors,
airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines - to safeguard that gift and
guarantee no force on this earth can ever steal it away. It has been my
distinct honor to have been with you here today. Rest assured our
America , this experiment in democracy started over two centuries ago,
will forever remain the "land of the free and home of the brave" so long
as we never run out of tough young Americans who are willing to look
beyond their own self-interest and comfortable lives, and go into the
darkest and most dangerous places on earth to hunt down, and kill, those
who would do us harm.
God Bless America , and SEMPER
FIDELIS !" IT WOULD BE NICE (GREAT!) TO SEE the message spread if more
would pass it on. Semper Fi, God Bless America and God Bless the United
States Marine Corps. ... Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers
Forever.
The above was taken from the wall of
Marines of Helmand and Al anbar, and is a from a speech given by Lt
General John Kelly. I removed a couple of phrases regarding the race and
status of the young men, as family members had objected to these
comments on another wall. The purpose of this note is to honor these two
young men, the best of us all.
Jordan's website :http://jordanhaerter.com/about.html
Jonathan's memorial group: https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36929623544
