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10-06-08, 10:15 AM
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Saturday, April 14, 2007
Saluting a Marine's bravery
Despite being wounded, Christopher Adlesperger continued fighting to save fellow Marines in the 2004 Fallujah battle.
VIK JOLLY
The Orange County Register
CAMP PENDLETON - Less than three months into his deployment in Iraq, Christopher Adlesperger got what he joined the U.S. Marines for: adventure and excitement.
During Operation Phantom Fury, the second battle of Fallujah in late 2004, the private first class and his platoon were in a fierce firefight inside a house full of insurgents with machine guns.
He would later tell his fellow Marines that he thought he was going to die but if that was to be the case, he wanted to do a few things first: take care of his comrades and die with his finger on the trigger.
Despite being hit with fragments from an enemy grenade, Adlesperger managed to single-handedly reach a stairwell and move three Marines and a Navy Corpsman to the rooftop, where they could get medical attention.
He returned moments later to once again face and kill the enemy, ultimately paving the way to help clear the last insurgent strongpoint in the Jolan District of Fallujah.
Adlesperger, 20, did not die that day. And even though he didn't see it that way, on Nov. 10, 2004, he became a hero.
On Friday in front of about 1,000 5th Marines, some veterans and family members at Camp Pendleton, Adlesperger joined a select pantheon of warriors when Major General John Paxton presented his parents with a Navy Cross, the second highest honor given to Marines for combat valor.
Adlesperger was fatally shot on Dec. 9, 2004, in a separate incident when he was helping clear another house, less than a month after the firefight that got him an infield meritorious promotion to lance corporal and eventually the Navy Cross.
The Albuquerque, N.M. native became only the 15th Marine to receive the Navy Cross for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Paxton praised Adlesperger's "quiet, steadfast valor," in a 45-minute sun-swept midday ceremony at which family members wiped tears.
"He made the Marine Corps better, his fellow marines better and the world better,' said the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division. "You have our undying gratitude."
Contact the writer: 949-465-5424 or vjolly@ocregister.com
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Saluting a Marine's bravery
Despite being wounded, Christopher Adlesperger continued fighting to save fellow Marines in the 2004 Fallujah battle.
VIK JOLLY
The Orange County Register
CAMP PENDLETON - Less than three months into his deployment in Iraq, Christopher Adlesperger got what he joined the U.S. Marines for: adventure and excitement.
During Operation Phantom Fury, the second battle of Fallujah in late 2004, the private first class and his platoon were in a fierce firefight inside a house full of insurgents with machine guns.
He would later tell his fellow Marines that he thought he was going to die but if that was to be the case, he wanted to do a few things first: take care of his comrades and die with his finger on the trigger.
Despite being hit with fragments from an enemy grenade, Adlesperger managed to single-handedly reach a stairwell and move three Marines and a Navy Corpsman to the rooftop, where they could get medical attention.
He returned moments later to once again face and kill the enemy, ultimately paving the way to help clear the last insurgent strongpoint in the Jolan District of Fallujah.
Adlesperger, 20, did not die that day. And even though he didn't see it that way, on Nov. 10, 2004, he became a hero.
On Friday in front of about 1,000 5th Marines, some veterans and family members at Camp Pendleton, Adlesperger joined a select pantheon of warriors when Major General John Paxton presented his parents with a Navy Cross, the second highest honor given to Marines for combat valor.
Adlesperger was fatally shot on Dec. 9, 2004, in a separate incident when he was helping clear another house, less than a month after the firefight that got him an infield meritorious promotion to lance corporal and eventually the Navy Cross.
The Albuquerque, N.M. native became only the 15th Marine to receive the Navy Cross for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Paxton praised Adlesperger's "quiet, steadfast valor," in a 45-minute sun-swept midday ceremony at which family members wiped tears.
"He made the Marine Corps better, his fellow marines better and the world better,' said the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division. "You have our undying gratitude."
Contact the writer: 949-465-5424 or vjolly@ocregister.com