Wounded Marine returns to comrades, lifts troops' morale

North County Times ^ | May 1, 2004 | Darrin Mortenson

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FALLUJAH, Iraq ---- One of the first bullets that insurgents fired down the dusty Fallujah street during the April 6 ambush struck 23-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Brad Simmons in the head just beneath his helmet.

The 7.62 mm round from an AK-47 impacted on his right side, burrowed three inches below his ear and burst through his right sideburn.

It looked at first like a fatal wound.

"I actually thought he was dead," said Pfc. Philip Marquez, a friend who said he thought it was "all over" for their whole squad when bullets started crashing into walls all around them and he heard Simmons yell: "I'm hit! Doc, I'm hit!"

But Simmons wasn't finished.

"He was down, all bleeding and stuff, and he's telling us, 'I'm fine! I'll be OK!' " Marquez recalled two weeks later. "Jeez, I mean we were supposed to be telling him that."

Marquez said Simmons' grit inspired him and the others to fight on.

"He was saying: 'You sonsabitches! I'll be back!' " Marquez recounted from his spot behind a machine gun, eyes wide like he was reliving the moment.

"It was like a morale booster. It was weird ---- there were so many feelings flying around.

"That actually helped me," Marquez said. "I just thought: 'OK we're gonna be all right.' "

Tougher than the pros

Marines later said that what seemed even more remarkable than Simmons' defiance in the face of death was his determination to rejoin his comrades in Fox Company who were still out there, somewhere, battling rebels in Fallujah.

That same spirit seemed to carry Simmons and Fox Company through the trials, dangers and exhaustion of three weeks of battle.

And last week, after more than three weeks of trying to convince doctors and his leaders that he was fit for duty, Simmons finally rejoined his platoon at the home they had fought to defend for nearly three weeks against wave after wave of rebel attacks.

With scars hardly visible, a Purple Heart and a bit of a salty swagger, Simmons hopped back into the ranks Friday just as Fox Company, and the entire 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment were getting ready to pull out of Fallujah and begin "phase two" of their operation outside the city.

"You've got NBA players who stub their toe and they're out for a whole season," said Sgt. Warren Hardy, one of the Marines who was there when Simmons returned. "But a Marine gets shot in the head and he's back at the front line in 10 days."

Hardy said his comparison was not original: He had heard variations of it repeated as Simmons' story became part of the lore and as Simmons entered the pantheon of heroes from the Marines' monthlong siege of Fallujah.

Ambush sparked battle

In the first chilly hours of April 5, two Marine battalions ---- 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment (2/1), and 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment (1/5), both from Camp Pendleton ---- first moved on Fallujah to set a cordon around the city of about 280,000 to prevent rebels from entering or leaving.

At about 2:30 a.m. April 5, just minutes after they arrived, Fox Company 2/1 was hit with a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire.

It was there in the cold dark of morning that Cpl. Tyler Fey of the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, Minn., a combat engineer attached to Fox, was killed, making him the second 2/1 Marine killed in the campaign.

Another Marine, Pfc. Leroy Sandoval Jr., 21, of Houston, had been killed March 26 during the Marines' first raid into the city. Some say that action fueled the violence that made the cordon necessary.

On April 6, the day after, Fox Company launched a small patrol into the city.

It was only a few hundred yards ahead of the spot where the first Marines were killed, but it was far enough to enter what some Marines would soon call "the belly of the beast," sucking the Marines into the city and turning a cordon and search operation into the worst combat U.S. forces have seen since the invasion last year.

Lance Cpl. Anthony Dilling, one of the Marines who walked alongside Simmons, said that the crowds of Iraqis that had gathered in the street suddenly vanished down alleyways and into homes as the Marines approached.

Before they vanished, little boys darted by pointing their hands like imaginary machine guns at the Marines, making horrible sounds with their mouths that Dilling said the Marines would understand soon enough.

'We started all this'

"We had gone firm ---- taken a knee ---- for a minute, then all of the sudden the streets cleared out," said Dilling, recounting the ambush as he remembered it two weeks later after seeing Simmons again for the first time.

"We knew the s--- was comin' down.

"And sure enough: We took two and a half steps and the street like exploded.

"We were taking fire from everywhere," he said. From his perch atop a roof and behind sandbags two weeks later, he pointed out the corners, buildings and alleyways where the Iraqis were firing.

Under fire, the Marines from 2nd Platoon fought back enough to pull back to cover until two tanks arrived to help.

Braving a hail of bullets, Navy corpsman Michael "Doc" Meaney rushed across a street to help Simmons before a Humvee arrived to whisk him back to a nearby train trestle where the other Marines watched in horror.

Dilling, who returned with Simmons, climbed the trestle as his friend was carried away to the hospital and as his leaders assembled more men to re-enter the city and fight off the attackers.

Reaching the tracks, Dilling sat head in hand, stunned for a moment as the seriousness of Simmons' wound sank in and Dilling realized that his friend would probably not return.

Moments later, Dilling and the others were called back into the city where they spent the night defending a house near the original ambush site ---- where 2nd Platoon leader Lt. Josh Jamison would later say, "We started all this," and where they would fight for the next three weeks.

'A pretty good Marine'

During the first week, the battalion fought to secure the first few blocks of the northwest corner of Fallujah ---- surviving mortars, RPGs and almost constant sniping from rebels in the neighborhoods to the south ---- Fox Company's Marines began hearing rumors that Simmons had survived his wound from that first day.

Cpl. Christopher Ebert, 21, of Forest City, N.C., said he was thrilled when he returned to the Marines' base near Fallujah and bumped into Simmons, who was not only alive, but doing well.

"He says he wants to get out here in about a week," Ebert said one day while on guard on the roof watching for insurgents in the streets below. "Crazy bastard!"

Ebert said it made him feel silly for bitching about the conditions in the field.

"I don't know how he survived it. And he's a good sport about it, too," Ebert said, shaking his head. "He's a pretty good Marine."

When Simmons finally returned Friday, it was as if he had never left.

The Marines' silent, stiff-lipped reception was the same as their reaction when he disappeared from their ranks three weeks before: After initial shock, they pretended it never happened ---- tough guys getting through another tough day with their heads up and eyes dry.

Simmons said his recovery and return was no big deal. And besides, "I got the guy who got me. I sleep very well at night," he said.

"I'm not stupid. I don't want another Purple Heart. No one really wants to come back out here," Simmons said Saturday, taking his turn behind the machine gun that his fellow Marines have manned day after day as they've defended their small patch of Fallujah.

"It was tempting," to go to Germany or home to St. Louis for treatment, he said. "But when everybody's out there doing their jobs, I felt like a turd not coming back."

Leaving Fallujah ---- together

While Simmons said he fought hard to return in time for a last big offensive against the insurgents, Fox Company 2/1 and the rest of the Marines were ordered this weekend to pull back from Fallujah to the countryside and begin what some leaders are calling "phase two" of their seven-month deployment to Iraq.

A new all-Iraqi force led by a former general in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard entered the city Friday and began patrolling. The attacks against Marines almost ceased, and the U.S. troops started pulling back.

Simmons, like most of the others, said that while he was "disappointed" that they did not "finish the job," he would do as he is told.

"Orders are orders," he said Saturday, adding that "if they (Iraqis) stop shooting at us, then we'll go home. It's up to them when we leave."

Reflecting on the ambush that nearly got him, and on the Marines' tough fight in Fallujah overall, Simmons' thoughts were simple and echoed the words of other Marines from Fox Company on Saturday.

"I'm just glad everyone made it," he said, adding that he was sorry to hear about the deaths suffered by the other companies in the battalion.

Now, whether it's in Fallujah or elsewhere, he said he was just thankful to be back with "the guys."

"You come out here and we've just got each other," said Simmons near the end of his guard shift Saturday. "That's it. And when that's all you've got, you just hang on with whoever you can and get through it."

Staff writer Darrin Mortenson and staff photographer Hayne Palmour are reporting from Iraq, where they are with Camp Pendleton Marines. Their coverage is collected at www.nctimes.com/military/iraq.

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Marine Lance Cpl. Brad Simmons looks out over the section of Fallujah known as Golan Saturday while standing guard on a roof that Marines have been occupying for three weeks. Simmons, who just rejoined his platoon, was shot in the head by an insurgent during an ambush while he and fellow platoon members were on patrol in Golan on April 6. Photo by Hayne Palmour IV.

Marine Lance Cpl. Brad Simmons, 23, left, shares a laugh Saturday with fellow platoon members Cpl. Jong Kim and Lance Cpl. Aryon Kull as they relax in one of the bedrooms of the home that Marines have been occupyingin northwest Fallujah, Iraq. Photo by Hayne Palmour IV.

[ride the whirlwind]

"You've got NBA players who stub their toe and they're out for a whole season," said Sgt. Warren Hardy, one of the Marines who was there when Simmons returned. "But a Marine gets shot in the head and he's back at the front line in 10 days."

How different Simmons' attitude is compared with a certain Senator from Mass. in a different war zone. Simmons is a real hero!

[sgtbono2002]

>>>>>"It was tempting," to go to Germany or home to St. Louis for treatment, he said. "But when everybody's out there doing their jobs, I felt like a turd not coming back." <<<<<<

It never tempted me for a moment not to use my three purple hearts to go home and runfor Congress. Did I feel like a turd? No: I got my medals and knew eventually they would help me get elected. John Fonda Kerry


Big difference between a genuine hero and a blowhard like Kerry

[An Old Man]

Lance Cpl. Simmons is showing everone what Marines are made of!

Semper Fi, Lance Cpl. Simmons

[x1stcav]

"You've got NBA players who stub their toe and they're out for a whole season," said Sgt. Warren Hardy,

This is particularly poignant in relationship to the Pat Tillman story. I may not ever watch pro sports again. Most of them are a bunch os whiny b*st*rds.

OTOH, Simmons is a stud. I wish the young fellow well.

[concentric circles]

These guys are truly great.

The news media have been doing their best at presenting incomplete, random, and just plain slanted reports while trying to spread doubt about the war on terrorism.

Most Americans believe in the desirability of the Greco-Roman state, based on the rule of law and the ideals of equality and liberty. Living in freedom, the citizen can strive to make his dream a reality and ennoble his efforts on a spiritual foundation of his highest understanding of the Creator.

Such citizens live on faith and hope and will not be deceived by the lies perpetrated by a cynical cabal. The American ideal is real and it is worth fighting for.

[OldFriend]

There are heroes and then there are pieces of garbage who give the demonrat Saturday response against our president because it was sooo hot in Baghdad!

[fourdeuce82d]

a Marine gets shot in the head and he's back at the front line in 10 days

umm...well...that's because Marines....

Nope- sorry- can't make an interservice joke.

Guy's a stud.

Period.

All The Way "Hooah" to a jarhead who clangs when he walks.

[Ron in Acreage]

This guy defends America, while Kerry gets driven around in his SUV getting $1000 haircuts and manicures.

[Blood of Tyrants]

And spoiled brats in Amherst call Pat Tillman a "dumb jock" for loving this country more than money.

[TheBattman]

You know - I was just thinking - Kerry was "wounded", supposedly 3 times, but we hear nothing about the extent of those supposed injuries (that he only missed one day of active duty because of). Kerry got 3 supposed wounds and was able to come home.

This marine (Simmons) in contrast is shot IN THE HEAD and is back at his duty post in 10 days - not looking for a ticket home.

What a difference a little integrity makes!

[joesnuffy]

This is particularly poignant in relationship to the Pat Tillman story. I may not ever watch pro sports again. Most of them are a bunch os whiny b*st*rds.

Yeah...I've felt that way for quite a while...every time I hear the announcers refer to these pamperd millionaires as "returning veterans"

Lance Corporal Brad Simmons...is someone very special...God watch over and give HIS courage to all our troops...

[ConservativeMan55]

bttt

[neverdem]

BTTT

[Tennessee_Bob]

Nope- sorry- can't make an interservice joke

Yeah - I know - but I know what you're thinking ;) P> I've always said that the Marines deserve the reputation that they have. They are tough as hell.

BTW - I was USAF, 1984-1994

[arasina]

Simmons said his recovery and return was no big deal. And besides, "I got the guy who got me. I sleep very well at night," he said.

I think it's a big deal and he's a FINE Marine!

[Tamzee]

What a man and what a hero...

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

So many other men have more grievous wounds, higher honors, and longer service - in Vietnam and elsewhere - than are on Senator Kerry's record, that if those were Senator Kerry's only credentials he would scarcely have merited the party's notice.

But Mr. Kerry became Senator Kerry, and now stands as the presumptive presidential nominee of his party, not merely on the basis of his medals but on the basis of Kerry's waving the bloody shirt of his Vietnam service while simultaneously cynically denigrating the claim to virtue which military awards - including honorable discharge papers - represent. Thereby providing cover for men who would otherwise be at serious risk of having their valor called into question.

If the Democrats presume to encourage National Guard Lieutenants to publicly question the president's leadership, how if the Republicans ask for the opinion of Lance Cpl. Brad Simmons? It would obviously be unfair to do that. But then, sauce for the goose and all that . . .

[kayak]

Bump for quite an inspiring story.

God bless Lance Cpl. Simmons and those who fight at his side!

[krunkygirl]

These guys are just incredible men...just amazing!