His squad leader said he needed to talk to me. “I can’t take it any more,” one of the Marines tells me. Conrad for The New York Timesĭuring the course of the fighting in Falluja, his platoon took casualties without the slightest degradation of motivation, professionalism or effectiveness. A program for a memorial service for fallen members of his unit. I was the unluckiest because everything I ever did after that would seem inconsequential. The luckiest because right out the gate I experienced the largest battle the Marine Corps had fought in decades. Two weeks into the battle, my company commander told me that I was both the luckiest and unluckiest lieutenant he’d ever met. His platoon fought in more engagements than any other rifle platoon in the company. Lieutenant Ackerman is enthusiastically recommended for the Silver Star for his heroic actions during OPERATION PHANTOM FURY in Falluja, Iraq, between 10 November and 10 December 2004. Lieutenant Ackerman on the far left with his rifle platoon in Falluja, Iraq, during Operation Phantom Fury in 2004. So that is what I’ve done, in boldfaced passages from the summary of action, and the recollections they stirred - to record what I hope, beyond that account, will be remembered. I want to add things, details that a formal government account could never capture, personal reflections that fill the spaces between the lines. When I look at that account now I see gaps. I was handed the citation and the more detailed “summary of action,” the official story of what happened. I searched for their faces, but lost them in the ranks. Most of the Marines I’d fought alongside weren’t there - they’d moved on, to civilian life, to other postings - but a few remained. The author’s dress uniform with his medals, including the silver star that was awarded to him for his bravery during the battle. Our infantry battalion stood in formation while the adjutant for the Second Marine Division read a citation. I fought in that battle in Iraq, leading First Platoon, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment, and two years later, on a clear January day in Camp Lejeune, I was awarded a medal. The battle was a key operation at the outset of the Iraq War and resulted in the fiercest urban combat since the battle for Hue in Vietnam in 1968. This is the 15th Memorial Day since the battle of Falluja in late 2004, in which 82 American service members died. Credit Ashley Gilbertson/VII, for The New York Times
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