This is Corporal Jefferey W. Johnson. Born on the 27th of January 1989, killed in action on the 11th of May 2010 Garmsir District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
He was my room mate for six months. And I'm not going to lie, there were plenty of times when he pissed me the fuck off by leaving his dirty underwear in the bathroom. But whenever i'd start yelling at him, he'd always say something to make me start laughing. It was just too hard to stay mad at him. He always had a smile on his face, and was the biggest smart ass I've ever met. heh.
Six days before he was killed, his squad was involved in one of the fiercest firefights our platoon was engaged in. His entire squad was surrounded, holed up in an abandoned complex deep in Taliban territory. They were taking heavy fire from all sides, close enough to throw grenades. They held their ground for 36 hours of straight fighting. They ran out of food, water, and ammunition was running dangerously low. Seeing one of his junior Marines despair, Cpl Johnson just said, 'hey, don't worry, we got this.' And they continued fighting.
It took us almost a full day to reach them with the Quick Reaction Force, thats how deep into enemy controlled territory they were. But we got there, and helped them fight our way back to friendly lines.
The day he was killed, Sgt. Kenneth May asked his squad, "ok, who's going to help mine sweep the road with me for this re-supply mission?"
It was a 4 kilometer patrol, heading north to pick up water, food, and extra ammunition for the platoon. Of course, no one wanted to volunteer to check for mines and improvised explosive devices along the dirt road they'd be traveling. Finally Corporal Johnson said, "dont worry guys, i got this." That was the last thing I heard him say.
Two hours later, he was killed when an IED exploded yards away from him.
For his bravery and leadership, Corporal Jeffery W. Johnson has been nominated for the Bronze Star with Valor.
This is Sergeant Kenneth B. May Jr. Born on the 20th of April 1984, killed in action on the 11th of May 2010, Garsmir District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Sgt. May was my old Team Leader, from before I myself became a Sergeant and a Team leader. He was a deeply religious man, but not the kind that always got in your face about it. He was soft spoken and kind, keeping to himself whenever he could, and never did I hear him utter a curse word. It was always "dangit" or "shoot". Never a more respectful man would you have met.
When we found out that I was to be promoted, he told me that he was going to use his old Sergeant chevrons to pin me with, a tradition for all new Sergeants in the Marine Corps. I told him that was silly, and that I'd buy myself brand new chevrons, but he insisted. So on the day I was promoted, during the promotion ceremony, he came up, threw my Corporal chevrons over his shoulder, and pinned a pair of his old Sergeant chevrons onto my collar. I'll never forget that day.
When his Squad was pinned down during that 36 hour gun fight, he rallied his Marines, placing them into their respective firing positions, assigning them sectors of fire, thus helping them stay alive until the re-enforcements arrived.
Six days later, when his squad was tasked with a re-supply mission, he volunteered to lead the way as primary mine sweeper with the Mine Detector, because he wasn't going to assign one his junior Marines to do a task that he himself would not want to do. He was a good leader, and led from the front.
Two hours after he led his patrol out of our patrol base, he was killed when a command detonated IED exploded under neath his feet.
For his bravery and leadership, Sergeant Kenneth B. May Jr. has been nominated for the Bronze Star with Valor.
This is Corporal Larry D. Harris Jr. Born on the 8th of August 1985, killed in action on of the 1st of July 2010, Garmsir District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Corporal Harris and I both enlisted in 2006. We served together in Iraq 2007, as well as part of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in the South Pacific in 2008. Both of our enlistments were set to end in Spring of 2010. But when we found out that our unit was going to be headed to Afghanistan, neither of us hesitated to re-enlist for another term, just so we could go with our fellow Marines and friends on our toughest deployment yet.
Cpl. Harris was part of 3rd platoon, originally assigned to a different operating area than ours in 1st platoon. But when they heard about all the fighting our platoon had been doing, Cpl. Harris personally walked up to our Company 1st Sergeant and asked to be sent to the front with us. "Send us in 1st Sgt. Send us in! We need to get into this fight!"
And so they did. 3rd platoon was sent in to leap frog my platoon's patrol base, and set up their own patrol base 2 kilometers south of us. In the same area where Sgt. May's squad had been holed up for their 36 hour gunfight.
During the first week of fighting for the new area, Cpl Harris' fire team came under heavy machine gun fire, wounding one of the junior Marines in his fire team. Upon seeing a Marine under his charge fall, without any hesitation, Cpl. Harris ran out into the heavy volume of enemy fire, picked up his wounded Marine, threw him over his shoulder, and ran for cover.
The cover that Cpl Harris ran to was a perfectly covered position from the enemy fire. So perfect, that the enemy emplaced an IED in that same spot, knowing any good combatant would use it as a covered position. The pressure plate IED that Cpl. Harris tripped was nothing more than a water bottle. Literally improvised to detonate when someone stepped over it. That someone was Cpl. Harris, carrying his wounded Marine.
The Marine that Cpl Harris carried out of the kill zone was saved, and made it out alive. Cpl, Harris, however was instantly killed.
For his bravery and leadership, Corporal Larry D. Harris Jr. has been nominated for the distinguished Silver Star.
These men were my friends. And while they may have died young, they were indeed Men... and of the highest caliber.
Rest in peace, my Brothers. I will see you again someday, and together we will guard the Streets of Heaven.
until then, I cannot in good conscious let any more of my friends go into danger without me. If anything were to happen to them, and I wasn't there to help, I wouldn't be able to live with myself.
So I'm going back to Afghanistan next fall.
Its a done deal.
Semper Fidelis.
He was my room mate for six months. And I'm not going to lie, there were plenty of times when he pissed me the fuck off by leaving his dirty underwear in the bathroom. But whenever i'd start yelling at him, he'd always say something to make me start laughing. It was just too hard to stay mad at him. He always had a smile on his face, and was the biggest smart ass I've ever met. heh.
Six days before he was killed, his squad was involved in one of the fiercest firefights our platoon was engaged in. His entire squad was surrounded, holed up in an abandoned complex deep in Taliban territory. They were taking heavy fire from all sides, close enough to throw grenades. They held their ground for 36 hours of straight fighting. They ran out of food, water, and ammunition was running dangerously low. Seeing one of his junior Marines despair, Cpl Johnson just said, 'hey, don't worry, we got this.' And they continued fighting.
It took us almost a full day to reach them with the Quick Reaction Force, thats how deep into enemy controlled territory they were. But we got there, and helped them fight our way back to friendly lines.
The day he was killed, Sgt. Kenneth May asked his squad, "ok, who's going to help mine sweep the road with me for this re-supply mission?"
It was a 4 kilometer patrol, heading north to pick up water, food, and extra ammunition for the platoon. Of course, no one wanted to volunteer to check for mines and improvised explosive devices along the dirt road they'd be traveling. Finally Corporal Johnson said, "dont worry guys, i got this." That was the last thing I heard him say.
Two hours later, he was killed when an IED exploded yards away from him.
For his bravery and leadership, Corporal Jeffery W. Johnson has been nominated for the Bronze Star with Valor.
This is Sergeant Kenneth B. May Jr. Born on the 20th of April 1984, killed in action on the 11th of May 2010, Garsmir District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Sgt. May was my old Team Leader, from before I myself became a Sergeant and a Team leader. He was a deeply religious man, but not the kind that always got in your face about it. He was soft spoken and kind, keeping to himself whenever he could, and never did I hear him utter a curse word. It was always "dangit" or "shoot". Never a more respectful man would you have met.
When we found out that I was to be promoted, he told me that he was going to use his old Sergeant chevrons to pin me with, a tradition for all new Sergeants in the Marine Corps. I told him that was silly, and that I'd buy myself brand new chevrons, but he insisted. So on the day I was promoted, during the promotion ceremony, he came up, threw my Corporal chevrons over his shoulder, and pinned a pair of his old Sergeant chevrons onto my collar. I'll never forget that day.
When his Squad was pinned down during that 36 hour gun fight, he rallied his Marines, placing them into their respective firing positions, assigning them sectors of fire, thus helping them stay alive until the re-enforcements arrived.
Six days later, when his squad was tasked with a re-supply mission, he volunteered to lead the way as primary mine sweeper with the Mine Detector, because he wasn't going to assign one his junior Marines to do a task that he himself would not want to do. He was a good leader, and led from the front.
Two hours after he led his patrol out of our patrol base, he was killed when a command detonated IED exploded under neath his feet.
For his bravery and leadership, Sergeant Kenneth B. May Jr. has been nominated for the Bronze Star with Valor.
This is Corporal Larry D. Harris Jr. Born on the 8th of August 1985, killed in action on of the 1st of July 2010, Garmsir District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Corporal Harris and I both enlisted in 2006. We served together in Iraq 2007, as well as part of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in the South Pacific in 2008. Both of our enlistments were set to end in Spring of 2010. But when we found out that our unit was going to be headed to Afghanistan, neither of us hesitated to re-enlist for another term, just so we could go with our fellow Marines and friends on our toughest deployment yet.
Cpl. Harris was part of 3rd platoon, originally assigned to a different operating area than ours in 1st platoon. But when they heard about all the fighting our platoon had been doing, Cpl. Harris personally walked up to our Company 1st Sergeant and asked to be sent to the front with us. "Send us in 1st Sgt. Send us in! We need to get into this fight!"
And so they did. 3rd platoon was sent in to leap frog my platoon's patrol base, and set up their own patrol base 2 kilometers south of us. In the same area where Sgt. May's squad had been holed up for their 36 hour gunfight.
During the first week of fighting for the new area, Cpl Harris' fire team came under heavy machine gun fire, wounding one of the junior Marines in his fire team. Upon seeing a Marine under his charge fall, without any hesitation, Cpl. Harris ran out into the heavy volume of enemy fire, picked up his wounded Marine, threw him over his shoulder, and ran for cover.
The cover that Cpl Harris ran to was a perfectly covered position from the enemy fire. So perfect, that the enemy emplaced an IED in that same spot, knowing any good combatant would use it as a covered position. The pressure plate IED that Cpl. Harris tripped was nothing more than a water bottle. Literally improvised to detonate when someone stepped over it. That someone was Cpl. Harris, carrying his wounded Marine.
The Marine that Cpl Harris carried out of the kill zone was saved, and made it out alive. Cpl, Harris, however was instantly killed.
For his bravery and leadership, Corporal Larry D. Harris Jr. has been nominated for the distinguished Silver Star.
These men were my friends. And while they may have died young, they were indeed Men... and of the highest caliber.
Rest in peace, my Brothers. I will see you again someday, and together we will guard the Streets of Heaven.
until then, I cannot in good conscious let any more of my friends go into danger without me. If anything were to happen to them, and I wasn't there to help, I wouldn't be able to live with myself.
So I'm going back to Afghanistan next fall.
Its a done deal.
Semper Fidelis.
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rayraythemanape:
HA!
issue_:
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