Posted on 01/23/2007 4:12:16 PM PST by csvset
THEY NUMBERED only a little over two dozen, some of them were already dead and most of the rest were wounded. About 200 Abu Sayyaf bandits were closing in on them.
But the young Marines were united by one resolve: There would be no retreat, they would go down together.
“I looked to my side, one of my men was dead. On my other side, one was wounded. Behind me, someone had blood gushing from his face,” 2nd Lt. Romulo Dimayuga said yesterday, recalling the battle in Sulu province last Sept. 4 in which his men killed top Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani.
“But (our) will to fight was unmatchable. Even though wounded, we were firing back,” the platoon leader of the 27-man elite Marine Force Reconnaissance Class 12 told reporters.
Despite the overwhelming force his platoon faced, Dimayuga said he and his men never considered retreating.
“We held the line. We could not retreat because we were going to leave many behind. I will not leave any Marines behind,” he said.
“We agreed that whatever happened, if it was going to end here, we’d go down together.”
The 24-year-old Dimayuga stared ahead unblinking as he spoke.
Pfc. Jovelito Manalili, 26, who served as navigator, said his unit was very close-knit, its members having known each other for some time before they started a nine-month rigorous training.
Heavy price
Six of Dimayuga’s men died in the pre-dawn clash in Patikul town in Sulu. But the Abu Sayyaf paid dearly for testing the Marines’ mettle.
A post-battle military report said 67 Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed in that encounter, including Janjalani.
It was the first time that Class 12 had suffered casualties since it was deployed to Sulu last Aug. 1, fresh from graduation.
Dimayuga said it was a “great honor” for the platoon to have killed Janjalani but he expressed sadness at the death of his six fellow Marines.
“Their deaths were not in vain because it had a very positive outcome, we got the leader of the Abu Sayyaf,” he simply said.
Those who were killed were Cpl. Ryan Socrates, team leader; Cpl. Judy Gatan, team leader; Pfc. Isagani Zamora, gunner; Jayson Paiton, point man; Harold Almodovar, radio man, and Gilbert Parcia, assistant team leader.
Sixteen members of the platoon were wounded, including Dimayuga and Manalili.
One soldier is still in the hospital requiring major surgery for a splintered bone in the arm.
The death of Janjalani, whose bandit group had been linked by the United States to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, was confirmed only last week following DNA tests conducted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The tests matched samples taken from the remains dug up in Barangay Kabuntakas in Patikul, some 2 km from the battle site, with saliva samples taken from Janjalani’s brother Hector, who is serving a life term for kidnapping.
Dimayuga, who graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 2005, said his unit tracked down Janjalani’s camp based on intelligence information provided to the 3rd Marine Brigade under Brig. Gen. Juancho Sabban.
Threat remains
Dimayuga showed no interest in the idea of a movie being made out of his platoon’s feat.
“I will let higher-ups decide on that,” he said.
Amid military claims that the killing of Janjalani could signal the end of the bandit group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front yesterday said Janjalani’s death was not a guarantee that there would be peace in the south.
“It appears that Janjalani still has supporters at large. So, the problem with them remains,” MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.
But Kabalu conceded that Janjalani’s death was a setback for the Abu Sayyaf and could deter those intending to join the group.
Kabalu also said the MILF central committee had agreed to help in the crackdown on the Abu Sayyaf and that MILF chair Ebrahim Murad had directed his men to deny the group sanctuary.
US role
In Malacañang, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the military’s success against the Abu Sayyaf was “in part due to the fact that (its) lair is becoming smaller because our grasp on peace in Mindanao and Southern Philippines has become wider.”
She also said the victories against the bandit group showed the success of the training and intelligence programs that the Philippines had received from the United States.
But some analysts said that remnants and “sleeper cells” of the Abu Sayyaf still posed a major threat.
Ricardo Blancaflor, a senior official with the government’s Anti-Terrorism Task Force, cautioned against complacency, saying surviving Abu Sayyaf members could regroup under a different command.
“We cannot discount sleeper cells,” Blancaflor said.
John Harrison, head of terrorism research at Singapore’s S. Rajanatram School of International Studies, warned: “Even if no one takes over, it will fragment again and you will have bandits and perhaps more hardline terrorist cells.” With reports from Christine O. Avendaño, Edwin O. Fernandez, Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao, and Agence France-Presse
Muslims are awful in manly man-to-man combat. That's why they bomb civilians
I'm sure ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN... they're all over this great story, right... right...?
May these Marines RIP and know that we hold their action that day in high regard in the best tradition(s) of a Band of Bothers.
Reporterette doesn't know the difference...sigh
Oh dear.
great men
Fyi..
My Father was around PI, Guam, GuadalCanal, Bouganville, and a bunch of those islands in the South Pacific in WWII. Said basically the same thing. He too, was a Marine!
Semper Fi Marines.
Bravo Zulu, a job well done.
27 Marines on 200 terrs? Not fair - the Marines had 'em surrounded.
We do not need to look far to find heroes.
Those who were killed were Cpl. Ryan Socrates, team leader; Cpl. Judy Gatan, team leader; Pfc. Isagani Zamora, gunner; Jayson Paiton, point man; Harold Almodovar, radio man, and Gilbert Parcia, assistant team leader.
Cpl JUDY Gatan? Reasonable to assume this was a female. I thought women were not authorized to be in direct combat units.
Poor Terrs,.... the Marines had an unfair advantage. 27 US Marines against 200 terrs. The terrs were surrounded. < / ridicule of cowardly terrs
"Gentlemen, we are now in a position to attack the enemy from all directions..."
Some of the finest people the world may never know. BUMP!
"I'm sure ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN... they're all over this great story,
right... right...?"
Not to worry.
The WorldWide MSM has already sanitized the Islamic terrorist
(Janjalani) and nominated him for secular sainthood.
The PI Marines are actually the bad guys.
(/sarc)
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/20/asia/AS-GEN-Philippines-Slain-Terrorist.php
016484
Close the borders in Iraq and the supply of ragheads willing to die for Allah will dwindle quickly.
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