HUSAYBA — Cpl. Jamie L. Emerson is one lucky 'Bastard.' The 22-year-old assigned to the 'Betio Bastards' of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment escaped death when an enemy bullet ripped through his Kevlar helmet Aug. 1 in Husayba, an area on the Euphrates River near the Syrian border. “Everybody’s been calling me ‘lucky,’” said Emerson, a mortarman with Regimental Combat Team 5. The battalion earned the nickname 'Betio Bastards' during a bloody World War II battle at Tarawa, a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean where hardened Japanese marines defended the island of Betio with more than 5,000 troops....