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thedrifter
06-05-07, 05:40 AM
Cross award

Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times
Jun. 5, 2007 12:00 AM

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - More than 140,000 U.S. Marines have served in Iraq in a war that has lasted more than 1,500 days. Only 18 have received the Navy Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor for combat bravery.

On Monday, the family of the 18th recipient, Cpl. Jason S. Clairday, gathered to receive his posthumous award and to hear the young man, who was 21 when he died, remembered as one "who set the standard for others to follow."

Clairday was awarded the Navy Cross for leading Marines in storming an insurgent stronghold in Fallujah in December 2004 to support Marines pinned down inside the home. Already wounded in the first assault, he refused to leave the fight and insisted on leading a second assault.

"He was told to evacuate, he was supposed to evacuate," Col. Larry Nicholson said. "He did not. He rallied his Marines and said, 'We're going in strong.' "

With grenades and M-16 fire, Clairday and his fire-team members killed the insurgents inside the home and saved several Marines. But wounds he received during the second assault proved fatal.

Travis Icard, who served with Clairday in Fallujah, told Marines and others attending the ceremony that his former fire-team leader "guided me to be a better Marine and to be a better man. ... Cpl. Clairday taught me things you can't learn in a textbook. He was always hardworking but never hard to work with."

Nicholson, commander of the 5th Marine regiment, credited the bravery of Clairday and other Marines who "went into that city and took it away from the terrorists" with improvements in Fallujah, which is no longer controlled by insurgents.

Clairday, of Salem, Ark., played baseball in high school, sang in the church choir and went into the Marines looking for stability.

He married his high school sweetheart only weeks before he deployed to Iraq with the 3rd battalion, 5th Marine regiment in September 2004. The couple had dreamed of having seven children and living their lives in rural Arkansas. Sarah Clairday had a miscarriage shortly before her husband deployed, but both figured they would have plenty of time to try again.

Clairday was set to leave the Marines in 2005 and attend college, in hopes of becoming a counselor to troubled kids.

While in Iraq, he sent e-mails to his wife and other family members and made occasional phone calls. He was always upbeat and never let on that his battalion was involved in close combat.

"He didn't want us to worry," said Cindy McCullough, his mother-in-law. "He never told us about bad things. He told us never to turn on TV, but that was the first thing I did every morning. He always put on a brave front and said, 'Take care of my baby doll.' "

Ellie

thedrifter
06-05-07, 06:33 AM
Monday, June 4, 2007 <br />
Marine honored with Navy Cross <br />
Cpl. Jason S. Clairday posthumously honored at Camp Pendleton for fight in Fallujah, Iraq, in late 2004. <br />
By VIK JOLLY <br />
The Orange County...