We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder With the Marines Who Took Fallujah (Hardcover)
by Patrick K. O'Donnell
http://www.amazon.com/We-Were-One-Shoulder-Fallujah/dp/0306814692
Hardcover: 244 pages
Publisher: Da Capo Press (October 30, 2006)
Book Description
A riveting first-hand account of the fierce battle for Fallujah and the Marines who fought there--a story of brotherhood and sacrifice in a platoon of heroes
The platoon included four pairs of best friends. Each of the four would lose a best friend forever.
Five months after being deployed to Iraq, Lima Company's 1st Platoon found itself in Fallujah, embroiled in some of the most intense house-to-house, hand-to-hand combat since World War II. Civilians were used as human shields or as bait to lure soldiers into buildings rigged with explosives; suicide bombers approached from every corner hoping to die and take Americans with them; radical insurgents, high on adrenaline, fought to the death. The Marines of the 1st Platoon (part of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment) were among the first to fight in Fallujah, and they bore the brunt of this epic battle. When it was over, the platoon had suffered thirty-five casualties, including four dead.
This is their story.
Award-winning author and historian Patrick O'Donnell stood shoulder-to-shoulder with this modern band of brothers as they marched and fought through the streets of Fallujah, and he stayed with them as the casualties mounted. O'Donnell captures not only the sights, sounds, and smells of the gritty street combat, but also the human drama of young men in a close-knit platoon fighting for their lives--and the lives of their buddies. We Were One chronicles the 1st Platoon's story, from its formation at Camp Pendleton in California to its near destruction in the smoldering ruins of Fallujah.
We Were One is an unforgettable portrait of the new "Greatest Generation."
With 16 pages of extraordinary photographs from the front lines of the Battle for Fallujah
From the Publisher
"Here in these gripping pages is the Iraq War's fiercest battle, seen from the adrenaline-charged vantage of a few Marine buddies who are part of the next "Greatest Generation." We Were One is feelingly narrated by an intrepid war historian who risked his own life to capture every raw minute of their story."--Hampton Sides, author of Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers
"A magnificent tale of combat--mixing valor, grit, love, blood and sacrifice. This book defines what it means to be a Marine grunt."--Bing West, author of The March Up and No True Glory
"We Were One is a dramatic tale of courage, hardship and the extraordinarily difficult challenges faced by a gallant Marine unit in one of the world's most deadly places. Patrick O'Donnell brilliantly and compassionately recounts the story of our American sons called upon to fight, bleed, die, and survive in a hostile land."--Carlo D'Este, author of Patton: A Genius For War
"Pat O'Donnell was with us on the ground in Fallujah--house to house. His story is historically accurate and describes the greatest personal and professional test of our lives. We Were One is destined to be a classic of urban close combat, and honors the memory of all who made the ultimate sacrifice for their brother Marines. I am deeply thankful that Pat kept his oath to Lima Company."--LtCol Willy Buhl, CO Task Force 3/1, Operation AL FAJR
"As an embedded journalist in an Infantry Platoon, O'Donnell paints an authentic picture of our Nation's most precious assets--the Marine Riflemen--engaged in one of their fiercest fights. We Were One is a gritty, boots-on-the-ground account that enables readers to witness the overwhelming will and courage of Marines as they move against the enemy."--J.N. Mattis, Lieutenant General, U.S. Marine Corps, Commanding General, I Marine Expeditionary Force
About the Author
Patrick K. O'Donnell is a combat historian and the author of three previous books: Beyond Valor, winner of the prestigious William E. Colby Award for Outstanding Military History; Into the Rising Sun; and Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs. He is also the founder of the Drop Zone, an award-winning online oral history Web site. He lives in Virginia.
Looks like a veryy good book. Starting to see more of this kind of book.
Ping
B.S.! It's the Left, MSM, and many politicians who have trouble with this type of thinking/enemy, not the American people.
.
The Words:
http://www.Freerepublic.com/~ALOHARONNIE
The Pictures
http://www.RickRescorla.com/The%20Statue.htm
The Heroism
http://www.ArmchairGeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24361
.
Fact is most of those who surrendered were actually Koreans, working age men brought to Iwo as slave labor. Iwo Jima was essentially a fortress with a vast tunnel network connecting all the gun portals. Barracks, mess halls, weapon & ammunition storage areas, hospitals, all underground. The Japanese with Korean labor gangs spent over two years preparing the island for an amphibious assault landing by the Americans.
Such a reconsideration did, in fact, come to pass. Our government decided the 1 million casualties we would incur just wasn't worth it. But rather than settle for negotiated peace, we dropped two atomic bombs and gained the unconditional surrender we wanted."
So the Japanese, by making Iwo Jima so costly as to avoid invasion of the mainland, actually, unknown to them, forced Truman to choose between a "negotiated" or atomic ending of the war.
Hence the saying about the danger you face in "not knowing what you don't know".
Now is probably a a good time to mention one important difference between the Japanese Imperial armed forces and Islamic jiahdists. I have seen articles where Japanese WW II veterans are outraged when Kamikaze squadrons are compared to terrorists, such as the murders of 9/11.
The first Kamikaze squadrons appeared at Leyte Gulf in October 1944, when American battle groups were nearly impervious to successful attack. The Navy’s combat patrol aircraft and anti-aircraft guns, down to 40mm quad mounts, were radar directed and coordinated. The proximity fuse for 3” and 5” guns nearly guaranteed a hit. Japanese pilot training and aircraft quality lagged far behind. The Japanese Kamikaze pilot flew into as lethal a combination of human ingenuity and material superiority as could be found in WW II, but the special attack squadrons were created, because the Japanese were determined to get through and make some hits.
In comparison the deluded homicide bombers arising from Muslim heresies, evade police and military to find the most vulnerable innocents available. Their leaders not only murder these people, but also murder the spiritual viability of a billion Muslim believers through philosophies, which only began a rise to a dominate position when the Wahhabis allied with the House of Saud.