08/15/2025
Take a good look at this photo.
This isnāt a picture from Blackhawk down in 1993, Mogadishu, Somalia.
Nope, this is the picture of the recovered wreckage of a Marine Huey helicopter shot down in the onset of the Battle of Najaf in August, 2004. The reason there wasnāt video blasted all over CNN and Al Jazeera of Insurgents jumping up and down on the wreckage of this bird and dragging the bodies of its crew thru the Najaf streets, is because the Marines and Sailors of 1st Battalion, 4th Marines rushed to the crash site and fought off repeated attacks that day before launching a counter attack of their own into the enemies safe haven, the Wadi Al Salam Cemetery. You also probably havenāt heard the story of 1/4 CAAT Marines commandeering a civilian ambulance from a nearby hospital to rush the wounded pilots to the closest FOB. If youāve never heard this story before, donāt worry, youāre not alone, most have not. For whatever reason the heroism and accomplishment of our Marines and Sailors in this fight has been virtually ignored. I was even told that the new Global War on Terrorism wing of the National Museum of the Marine Corps doesnāt even bother to mention anything about the Battle of Najaf. Truly truly disheartening.
