thedrifter
09-12-06, 11:18 AM
September 18, 2006
Five 3/25 leathernecks earn major valor honors
By Beth Zimmerman
Staff writer
They were killed in block-by-block firefights to take New Ubaydi, Iraq, one house at a time. They died when a roadside bomb flipped and destroyed an assault amphibian vehicle. One squad lost 11 of its 12 members.
In all, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, a Reserve battalion based in Brook Park, Ohio, lost 48 of its own. In those battles that stretched from March to October last year, the Marines who survived did whatever they could to eliminate insurgents, save their buddies and get out alive, said Sgt. Jeff Schuller, a motor transport mechanic with 3/25. The actions of those leathernecks resulted in five major valor awards presented to battalion Marines this summer.
Cpl. Todd Corbin, a motor transport driver from Sandusky, Ohio, received the Navy Cross during a ceremony at the battalion headquarters July 4. Schuller received the Silver Star, and Master Sgt. Ralph Perrine received a Bronze Star with a combat “V” device during the same ceremony, which was “just about the most American July Fourth” anyone could have, Schuller said.
On Aug. 20, Cpl. Mark Camp received the Silver Star at the battalion’s Columbus, Ohio-based Lima Company, and Sgt. David Wimberg received a posthumous Silver Star.
During a May 8-11 assault on New Ubaydi, Camp — a lance corporal at the time — and the rest of his squad were ambushed, his Silver Star citation said. The attack left four of Camp’s squad mates wounded and two trapped in a courtyard. Leaving his covered position, Camp fired his M249 squad automatic weapon at point-blank range, “allowing one injured Marine to be pulled to cover,” the citation states. Then, Camp and another Marine attacked the front of the ambush site and forced two insurgents out the back of the house and into the Marines’ fire while allowing the recovery of another wounded Marine, the citation says.
While Camp and other Lima Company leathernecks cleared the house, insurgents hidden beneath the house’s floorboards fired armor piercing rounds that killed one of the Marines. Camp “refused to leave the building without the fallen Marine, and twice braved intense machine-gun fire while attempting to recover the fallen Marine,” according to the citation.
On May 11, a roadside bomb ripped apart Camp’s amtrac and killed or wounded all of its passengers. Ignoring his own wounds, Camp tried removing wounded Marines who were trapped inside the amtrac, “only to be thrown out of the vehicle from a secondary explosion,” the citation states. Despite more shrapnel wounds, Camp came back for more — finally pulling a Marine to safety, according to the citation.
When Corbin, Schuller and the rest of their quick-reaction force were ambushed in Hadithah on May 7, they called for backup. Perrine, then a gunnery sergeant with Weapons Company, led the squad of 3/25 Marines that responded to the QRF’s call.
“That’s why I love Marines — when you call for help, they come,” Corbin said.
“It was the QRF to the QRF,” he added, only half-kidding.
Amtracs brought Perrine and his Marines into the city, where they swept the area on foot, searching for insurgents. He “led Marines from the front, cleared buildings, and moved through enemy small-arms fire” in the process, his Bronze Star citation states.
Perrine also led a separate QRF into Haqlaniyah, Iraq, on April 20 to reinforce another weapons unit, the citation says. As the enemy attacked with automatic weapons fire and a roadside bomb, Perrine led the QRF through the kill zone, and his Marines destroyed enemy positions and pushed back attacks. They played a “vital role” in the ultimate seizure of the southern part of the city, the citation says.
Maj. Gen. Douglas O’Dell, 4th Marine Division’s commanding general, said the awards are a reflection of “not only ... the valor of all the Marines and sailors of 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines … but, also their commitment to their mission and each other.”
Ellie
Five 3/25 leathernecks earn major valor honors
By Beth Zimmerman
Staff writer
They were killed in block-by-block firefights to take New Ubaydi, Iraq, one house at a time. They died when a roadside bomb flipped and destroyed an assault amphibian vehicle. One squad lost 11 of its 12 members.
In all, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, a Reserve battalion based in Brook Park, Ohio, lost 48 of its own. In those battles that stretched from March to October last year, the Marines who survived did whatever they could to eliminate insurgents, save their buddies and get out alive, said Sgt. Jeff Schuller, a motor transport mechanic with 3/25. The actions of those leathernecks resulted in five major valor awards presented to battalion Marines this summer.
Cpl. Todd Corbin, a motor transport driver from Sandusky, Ohio, received the Navy Cross during a ceremony at the battalion headquarters July 4. Schuller received the Silver Star, and Master Sgt. Ralph Perrine received a Bronze Star with a combat “V” device during the same ceremony, which was “just about the most American July Fourth” anyone could have, Schuller said.
On Aug. 20, Cpl. Mark Camp received the Silver Star at the battalion’s Columbus, Ohio-based Lima Company, and Sgt. David Wimberg received a posthumous Silver Star.
During a May 8-11 assault on New Ubaydi, Camp — a lance corporal at the time — and the rest of his squad were ambushed, his Silver Star citation said. The attack left four of Camp’s squad mates wounded and two trapped in a courtyard. Leaving his covered position, Camp fired his M249 squad automatic weapon at point-blank range, “allowing one injured Marine to be pulled to cover,” the citation states. Then, Camp and another Marine attacked the front of the ambush site and forced two insurgents out the back of the house and into the Marines’ fire while allowing the recovery of another wounded Marine, the citation says.
While Camp and other Lima Company leathernecks cleared the house, insurgents hidden beneath the house’s floorboards fired armor piercing rounds that killed one of the Marines. Camp “refused to leave the building without the fallen Marine, and twice braved intense machine-gun fire while attempting to recover the fallen Marine,” according to the citation.
On May 11, a roadside bomb ripped apart Camp’s amtrac and killed or wounded all of its passengers. Ignoring his own wounds, Camp tried removing wounded Marines who were trapped inside the amtrac, “only to be thrown out of the vehicle from a secondary explosion,” the citation states. Despite more shrapnel wounds, Camp came back for more — finally pulling a Marine to safety, according to the citation.
When Corbin, Schuller and the rest of their quick-reaction force were ambushed in Hadithah on May 7, they called for backup. Perrine, then a gunnery sergeant with Weapons Company, led the squad of 3/25 Marines that responded to the QRF’s call.
“That’s why I love Marines — when you call for help, they come,” Corbin said.
“It was the QRF to the QRF,” he added, only half-kidding.
Amtracs brought Perrine and his Marines into the city, where they swept the area on foot, searching for insurgents. He “led Marines from the front, cleared buildings, and moved through enemy small-arms fire” in the process, his Bronze Star citation states.
Perrine also led a separate QRF into Haqlaniyah, Iraq, on April 20 to reinforce another weapons unit, the citation says. As the enemy attacked with automatic weapons fire and a roadside bomb, Perrine led the QRF through the kill zone, and his Marines destroyed enemy positions and pushed back attacks. They played a “vital role” in the ultimate seizure of the southern part of the city, the citation says.
Maj. Gen. Douglas O’Dell, 4th Marine Division’s commanding general, said the awards are a reflection of “not only ... the valor of all the Marines and sailors of 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines … but, also their commitment to their mission and each other.”
Ellie