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On the Ground with Charlie Company
 FALLUJAH, Iraq (June 9) -- The Marines of Charlie Company had a long night, hitting houses in the largest series of raids through the city since they've been here. They came back to their base Thursday morning with some success stories, but the news that awaited them was much bigger: Al-Zarqawi was dead.On Wednesday night's operation, about 750 Marines with 1st Battalion, 25th Marines - "New England's Own" - hit sites all over the city, working beside Iraqi soldiers. "Simultaneously, the doors were being kicked in," said Maj. Vaughn Ward, commander of Charlie Company. They grabbed more than two dozen suspected insurgents, with Charlie Company raking in nine of them from its five target houses. Two of their houses were "dry holes," the major said, but the others netted insurgents, weapons and bomb-making materials. When he discovered the news, 1st Sgt. Ben Grainger walked through the building knocking on doors, delivering the word, his face lit up like a kid on his way to Disney World. In the company's television lounge - the only place the Marines get satellite TV - they watched CNN and laughed at images of the terrorist mastermind. Laughter--Zark wouldn't have liked that. "Zarqawi ate it, man," Staff Sgt. Joey Davis said to another Marine who had just walked into the room. How insensitive of you, Sergeant Davis! The screen was showing recent video of al-Zarqawi firing a machine gun. "This is like the Super Bowl. We're watching the post-game analysis." The Marines kept their eyes on the sky, looking for the night's special guest: a military airplane set to drop 500,000 leaflets over the city. Grainger had a special song to play for the neighbors tonight. The first notes of "New York, New York" began, chosen to accompany the leaflets that would tell Fallujah residents al-Zarqawi was killed. "Start spreadin' the news," it started, at a volume louder than Grainger's usual shows. "I'm leavin' today." The blinking red lights of an aircraft soon began cutting across the night sky. Posted by: Matt 2006-06-12 |
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