thedrifter
07-14-07, 07:44 AM
Since 1965, the Marine Corps has effectively preserved its history through the Marine Corps Oral History Branch. The corps-wide program is conducted here by Capt. Diana Mearns, the historical program officer, who documents the accounts of Hawaii’s service members. The warriors’ stories are collected orally and join the ranks of thousands of Marines and Sailors who’ve come before them, dating back to the Vietnam War.
“Desert Diaries” tells the personal stories of pride and loyalty, humor and sadness, and the glory and horror of America’s wars. The stories are provided by the base historian, and are published to help share our warriors’ stories with the public.
Marines and Sailors with 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment are known as the “Island Warriors.” The name seems like it’s out of Hawaiian folklore, but rings true with 2/3’s Marines and Sailors, who’ve deployed numerous times in support of the Global War on Terrorism.
Sergeant Albert H. Mendiola, Fox Company, 2/3, has war stories to match those of World War II heroes. He’s deployed with his Marines to Afghanistan and Iraq in the past two years and accomplished everything from assisting in the capture of “Highly Valued Afghans” to training Iraqi Army sergeants major.
Mendiola, born in Fresno, Calif., enlisted in the Marine Corps April 12, 2004 at 19. He joined the Corps to be part of a brotherhood, he said.
“My motivation was the brotherhood that the Corps offered,” Mendiola said. “When I told my recruiter to sign me up, I told him to go ahead and sign me up for 0311, infantry, the hardest job in the Marine Corps.”
After boot camp and training at the School of Infantry in Camp Pendleton, Calif., Mendiola was attached to 2/3.
A year after enlisting, in April 2005, Mendiola deployed to Afghanistan serving as an M-249 squad automatic weapon gunner. While in Afghanistan, the unit’s mission was to search for insurgent activities and locate areas where Taliban and other insurgents were located. Once they found them, they would conduct counter attacks on the insurgent groups and capture or kill HVAs.
One of Mendiola’s most memorable days in Afghanistan was when the unit planned an ambush on one of the insurgent groups.
The company commander led his troops up a hill in Afghanistan to locate insurgents. Once at the area where the insurgents were known to be, they set up fighting positions, provided cover and concealment and made bunkers to prepare for the fight.
“We knew the fight was out there and we were getting ready for it,” Mendiola said.
The Marines and Sailors spent the night peacefully in their built bunkers. When the sun rose, however, the Marines heard the sounds of oncoming rocket propelled grenades. The Marines, still getting ready to start the day, were caught off guard by an onslaught of RPGs and machine gun fire.
“It was just complete chaos,” he said.
With RPG and machine gun fire raining down on them, the Marines had to maneuver themselves into covered areas, under trees and into their established bunkers, he said.
During the initial burst, the unit sustained four casualties. One Marine was shot in the chest four or five times, one Marine was shot in the leg six times, and a few Marines took RPG fragment and shrapnel to their bodies, he said.
“Once that had all taken place, we started to fight,” he said. “We started doing what we had to do. We’re trained to fight. We started fighting. Immediately we started returning rounds down to the enemy position, all around just raining back down on them.”
After the firefight, the enemy became scared and ran off to seek cover, he said. Once the Marines believed they no longer had to worry about the enemy, they began to evacuate the casualties.
“We had some urgent injured and we had to get them out of there,” he said.
Casualty evacuation helicopters were called in, and Mendiola was sent to help the injured evacuate. The casualties had to be brought up the hill 700 meters in order to be evacuated.
When Mendiola got to the injured, he found one of his friends, unconscious and bleeding out of his leg. His platoon sergeant passed the order for Mendiola to carry the injured Marine up the hill.
“I had a corpsman on my side as I’m carrying him, talking to the casualty making sure he was alright because he kept coming in and out because he had just gotten his morphine,” he said.
Mendiola continued to carry the Marine up the hill while Marines were still exchanging rounds with the enemy. He remembers one Marine who was shot in the chest but wasn’t bleeding. Corpsmen were preparing to treat shock caused by a collapsed lung, but the Marine continued to stay conscious and climb the hill to be evacuated.
“That in itself was intense,” Mendiola said.
As the unit made their way to the landing zone for the helicopters, the fight slowed down. The unit was now waiting for another attack to respond to.
“We were just waiting to counter attack again,” he said. “It was like ‘you want to fight, let’s go ahead and fight.’”
The Marines set up the landing zone when they saw the helicopters come in. As the helicopter approached, Marines from other units were moved to their position. The Marines found and engaged an insurgent who was trying to shoot down the helicopter.
Once the evacuation was over, the Marines carried the gear of the evacuated Marines.
“We don’t want to leave any gear behind for the enemy, so now it’s time to hump back down the hill, grab all the gear and head back up,” he said.
Later that night, the Marines set up again to engage the enemy and finish the fight.
“We all set up in a nice, big 360,” he said. “We had everyone just dug in, ready to fight again. Then dusk came, the sun was setting, and here came the insurgents.”
The insurgents opened fire on the Marines, and Mendiola and another SAW gunner had a good position to fire at the enemy. A mortar man shot rounds from the shoulder at the enemy and they called in air support to engage the enemy position.
“We ended up killing pretty much every insurgent that was there that day,” he said. “That was all in one day, and the story just keeps going.”
In order to get out of the fight, the Marines humped more than 20 miles back to the road where they were dropped off the day prior. On the trip back, the Marines picked up intelligence that the insurgents planned another attack.
“We had killed a high valued Afghani’s son, and so they were like ‘we’re going to get them back,’” he said. “Then we knew we were marching into another fight, we were like ‘okay, whatever, let’s do this.’”
After the nine-hour hike back with the anticipation of an attack, the Marines loaded up the vehicles without the promised insurgent attack.
“After the fight and the bombs were dropped we ended up taking out, I think it was 86 insurgents that day,” he said. “It was definitely a good day for the Marines.”
The Marines and Sailors prepared to leave and, as they pulled out, the insurgents ambushed the unit. The Marines returned fire.
“It’s kind of funny, my buddy earlier that day, before we went on that operation, had talked to his dad about him praying for him as we went out on this operation,” he said. “His dad had prayed specifically for us that if we were to be attacked by an RPG, for it to be a dud. As we were moving out an RPG actually hit us and was a dud. His dad’s praying had been for the rounds to go around us and the RPG to be a dud, and it was.”
The memories of those two days remain vivid in Mendiola’s mind, as if the attack had just taken place yesterday. This story is just one of the memorable events he has in his mind about his service with 2/3 in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mendiola’s story stands as a testimony to the courage and strength that defines Marines. He and his Marines and Sailors are living proof of the honor, courage and commitment that the Island Warriors contribute to the history, tradition and legend that Marines continue to uphold since 1775.
“Desert Diaries” tells the personal stories of pride and loyalty, humor and sadness, and the glory and horror of America’s wars. The stories are provided by the base historian, and are published to help share our warriors’ stories with the public.
Marines and Sailors with 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment are known as the “Island Warriors.” The name seems like it’s out of Hawaiian folklore, but rings true with 2/3’s Marines and Sailors, who’ve deployed numerous times in support of the Global War on Terrorism.
Sergeant Albert H. Mendiola, Fox Company, 2/3, has war stories to match those of World War II heroes. He’s deployed with his Marines to Afghanistan and Iraq in the past two years and accomplished everything from assisting in the capture of “Highly Valued Afghans” to training Iraqi Army sergeants major.
Mendiola, born in Fresno, Calif., enlisted in the Marine Corps April 12, 2004 at 19. He joined the Corps to be part of a brotherhood, he said.
“My motivation was the brotherhood that the Corps offered,” Mendiola said. “When I told my recruiter to sign me up, I told him to go ahead and sign me up for 0311, infantry, the hardest job in the Marine Corps.”
After boot camp and training at the School of Infantry in Camp Pendleton, Calif., Mendiola was attached to 2/3.
A year after enlisting, in April 2005, Mendiola deployed to Afghanistan serving as an M-249 squad automatic weapon gunner. While in Afghanistan, the unit’s mission was to search for insurgent activities and locate areas where Taliban and other insurgents were located. Once they found them, they would conduct counter attacks on the insurgent groups and capture or kill HVAs.
One of Mendiola’s most memorable days in Afghanistan was when the unit planned an ambush on one of the insurgent groups.
The company commander led his troops up a hill in Afghanistan to locate insurgents. Once at the area where the insurgents were known to be, they set up fighting positions, provided cover and concealment and made bunkers to prepare for the fight.
“We knew the fight was out there and we were getting ready for it,” Mendiola said.
The Marines and Sailors spent the night peacefully in their built bunkers. When the sun rose, however, the Marines heard the sounds of oncoming rocket propelled grenades. The Marines, still getting ready to start the day, were caught off guard by an onslaught of RPGs and machine gun fire.
“It was just complete chaos,” he said.
With RPG and machine gun fire raining down on them, the Marines had to maneuver themselves into covered areas, under trees and into their established bunkers, he said.
During the initial burst, the unit sustained four casualties. One Marine was shot in the chest four or five times, one Marine was shot in the leg six times, and a few Marines took RPG fragment and shrapnel to their bodies, he said.
“Once that had all taken place, we started to fight,” he said. “We started doing what we had to do. We’re trained to fight. We started fighting. Immediately we started returning rounds down to the enemy position, all around just raining back down on them.”
After the firefight, the enemy became scared and ran off to seek cover, he said. Once the Marines believed they no longer had to worry about the enemy, they began to evacuate the casualties.
“We had some urgent injured and we had to get them out of there,” he said.
Casualty evacuation helicopters were called in, and Mendiola was sent to help the injured evacuate. The casualties had to be brought up the hill 700 meters in order to be evacuated.
When Mendiola got to the injured, he found one of his friends, unconscious and bleeding out of his leg. His platoon sergeant passed the order for Mendiola to carry the injured Marine up the hill.
“I had a corpsman on my side as I’m carrying him, talking to the casualty making sure he was alright because he kept coming in and out because he had just gotten his morphine,” he said.
Mendiola continued to carry the Marine up the hill while Marines were still exchanging rounds with the enemy. He remembers one Marine who was shot in the chest but wasn’t bleeding. Corpsmen were preparing to treat shock caused by a collapsed lung, but the Marine continued to stay conscious and climb the hill to be evacuated.
“That in itself was intense,” Mendiola said.
As the unit made their way to the landing zone for the helicopters, the fight slowed down. The unit was now waiting for another attack to respond to.
“We were just waiting to counter attack again,” he said. “It was like ‘you want to fight, let’s go ahead and fight.’”
The Marines set up the landing zone when they saw the helicopters come in. As the helicopter approached, Marines from other units were moved to their position. The Marines found and engaged an insurgent who was trying to shoot down the helicopter.
Once the evacuation was over, the Marines carried the gear of the evacuated Marines.
“We don’t want to leave any gear behind for the enemy, so now it’s time to hump back down the hill, grab all the gear and head back up,” he said.
Later that night, the Marines set up again to engage the enemy and finish the fight.
“We all set up in a nice, big 360,” he said. “We had everyone just dug in, ready to fight again. Then dusk came, the sun was setting, and here came the insurgents.”
The insurgents opened fire on the Marines, and Mendiola and another SAW gunner had a good position to fire at the enemy. A mortar man shot rounds from the shoulder at the enemy and they called in air support to engage the enemy position.
“We ended up killing pretty much every insurgent that was there that day,” he said. “That was all in one day, and the story just keeps going.”
In order to get out of the fight, the Marines humped more than 20 miles back to the road where they were dropped off the day prior. On the trip back, the Marines picked up intelligence that the insurgents planned another attack.
“We had killed a high valued Afghani’s son, and so they were like ‘we’re going to get them back,’” he said. “Then we knew we were marching into another fight, we were like ‘okay, whatever, let’s do this.’”
After the nine-hour hike back with the anticipation of an attack, the Marines loaded up the vehicles without the promised insurgent attack.
“After the fight and the bombs were dropped we ended up taking out, I think it was 86 insurgents that day,” he said. “It was definitely a good day for the Marines.”
The Marines and Sailors prepared to leave and, as they pulled out, the insurgents ambushed the unit. The Marines returned fire.
“It’s kind of funny, my buddy earlier that day, before we went on that operation, had talked to his dad about him praying for him as we went out on this operation,” he said. “His dad had prayed specifically for us that if we were to be attacked by an RPG, for it to be a dud. As we were moving out an RPG actually hit us and was a dud. His dad’s praying had been for the rounds to go around us and the RPG to be a dud, and it was.”
The memories of those two days remain vivid in Mendiola’s mind, as if the attack had just taken place yesterday. This story is just one of the memorable events he has in his mind about his service with 2/3 in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mendiola’s story stands as a testimony to the courage and strength that defines Marines. He and his Marines and Sailors are living proof of the honor, courage and commitment that the Island Warriors contribute to the history, tradition and legend that Marines continue to uphold since 1775.