Author Topic: Surviving the house of Hell (Read 649 times)

Gunslinger · « **on:** August 04, 2006, 02:11:52 PM »

Anyone hear about this in the news?

Quote

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (July 28, 2006) -- His desert utilities shredded by shrapnel and streaked with his own blood and that of his fellow Marines, Cpl. Robert J. Mitchell Jr. limped out of the cement block house in downtown Fallujah, Iraq, and into the annals of Marine Corps history.

The day was Nov. 13, 2004, and according to the Marine Corps’ official account of the fierce, close quarters battle, Mitchell ignored his own wounds and repeatedly braved enemy fire to administer first aid to and evacuate other Marines wounded in the fight.

Nearly two years after that fateful day, in a solemn ceremony at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Mitchell received the Navy Cross from Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, commander of the I Marine Expeditionary Force. The Navy Cross is the nation’s second-highest award for battlefield heroism.

“This is a truly special occasion,” said Sattler, addressing the assembled Marines and guests after presenting the award. “Valor comes in a scale, and all the Marines, Sailors, and veterans here today know how rare of an occasion this is.”

As a cool, dry wind snapped the flags around the parade deck, Mitchell choked back tears as he thanked God, his family, and his fellow Marines for their support and attending the ceremony.

Mitchell joined the Marine Corps in early 2001, and was on his second tour in Iraq with the 1st Marine Division when Coalition forces launched a joint U.S.-Iraqi offensive to reclaim Fallujah from insurgents who had fortified the city.

Dubbed Operation Al Fajr (aka Phantom Fury), the assault on Fallujah kicked off on Nov. 8, 2004, and quickly turned into a bloody, street-by-street contest with then-Corporal Mitchell and his fellow Marines in Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, in the thick of the fighting.

Day by day, Mitchell and his squad pushed through the city, methodically clearing pockets of enemy resistance as they progressed. During an assault against an insurgent strong point on Nov. 12, Mitchell was shot through the right tricep, but ignored the wound to help destroy the fortified position, and later refused medical evacuation to remain with his squad.

The next day, an assault against a squat, cement house had gone horribly wrong and several wounded Marines lay trapped inside with several well-fortified insurgents waiting in ambush positions. Mitchell’s squad got the call to come and assist.

“When the call came, we knew we had to get them out,” said Mitchell. “That became the mission – the only mission.”

Once on the scene, the Iowa native quickly established a casualty collection point and organized his men to assault the building. Then-1st Sgt. Bradley A. Kasal, the senior enlisted Marine from another company, joined Mitchell’s squad, and together, they charged the building and took up firing positions.

The first floor of the house was littered with dead or dying insurgents, and the wounded Marines lay further inside. Other enemy fighters were in fortified positions on the roof looking down through a skylight, creating a kill zone between Mitchell and the wounded Marines.

Covered by suppressive fire, Mitchell raced through the kill zone toward the wounded Marines as the rooftop insurgents showered the room below with rifle fire and grenades. Shrapnel from one of the grenades peppered the back of Mitchell’s legs, but he made it to the stranded, wounded Marines.

“It was great to see him come in,” said Cpl. Jose Sanchez, an infantryman from Houston, Texas. “Until he got there I was switching between treating Carlisle [Lance Cpl. Cory] and providing security. When Corporal Mitchell came in, he took over the medical treatment and I could focus on firing at the insurgents.”

A trained combat lifesaver, Mitchell went to work on Carlisle’s bullet-mangled leg. With his medical supplies running out, he once again orchestrated suppression of the insurgents on the roof to allow a corpsman and another Marine to sprint through the kill zone.

By this time, both Kasal and another Marine, Pfc. Class Alex Nicoll, had been seriously wounded by rifle fire and grenades, and were holed up inside a small room across the kill zone Mitchell had crossed only moments before.

Leaving the wounded Marines in the care of the corpsman, Mitchell once again braved the kill zone, and like before, the insurgents sprayed the short, treacherous path with bullets and grenades. One bullet smashed into Mitchell’s M-16A4 assault rifle, shattering the weapon before ricocheting down and into his right leg. More shrapnel slashed Mitchell’s legs and face, yet he remained on his feet and made it to Kasal and Nicoll, who was Mitchell’s former roommate and longtime friend.

Bleeding profusely, but apparently unmindful of his wounds, Mitchell began treating the others, applying bandages and direct pressure in an attempt to staunch the wounded Marines’ blood loss. In the midst of his life-saving efforts, Mitchell scanned the room and saw a wounded insurgent, shot earlier by Kasal, make a move for a weapon laying nearby.

Mitchell quickly drew his combat knife and lunged forward, driving the weapon into the insurgent, eliminating the threat for good before turning his attention back to Kasal and Nicoll. With Marines scattered throughout the small house and the insurgents still firmly entrenched on the roof and a nearby stairwell denying access to any additional forces, the situation was quickly deteriorating.

Through a small, barred window in the room, Mitchell explained to Marines outside the layout of the house and where Marines were located throughout the structure. With this information, the Marines were able to suppress the insurgents on the roof via firing positions on adjacent structures, and one-by-one, extract the wounded Marines from the building which has since been dubbed the “House of Hell.”

The photograph of a bloody Kasal, now a sergeant major and himself a Navy Cross recipient, being helped from the house by two Marines is one of the more resonant images of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Despite his own severe wounds, Mitchell was among the last to leave the house, and did so assisting another wounded Marine. Demolition charges were quickly flung into the house, and the resulting explosion caused the building to collapse, killing the diehard insurgents.

While other casualties from the short, yet intense, fight were loaded onto vehicles and driven to a nearby aid station, Mitchell gathered the remnants of his squad and led them back to the Kilo Company headquarters where he finally received treatment for his wounds.

Less than two weeks later, Mitchell was on his way home from Iraq. Though non-debilitating, his injuries suffered during Operation Al Fajr, combined with those from a mortar attack in July, were enough to convince the Marines the time had come to order Mitchell to leave the combat zone. In a November 2004 interview with a Marine combat correspondent, Mitchell voiced his concerns about being ordered to leave Iraq, but was resigned to his fate.

"Being told by my [commanding officer], sergeant major, platoon commander and all my buddies that I have done enough – that helps to ease my thoughts," said Mitchell. "It is supportive, but at the same time, I came out here to lead a squad and finish the job."

Mitchell, who left the Marine Corps as a sergeant in March 2005, traveled to Camp Pendleton to receive the award with his wife, Sara, and seven-month-old son, Robert III, from their current home in Phoenix where Mitchell works as a motorcycle mechanic. Other family members and friends, including Nicoll, made the trip as well.

“Mitchell’s a Marine’s Marine, and I always looked to him as a role model” said Sanchez, who earned a Bronze Star Medal for valor during the fight for Fallujah. “I’m really happy to see him receive this award.”

The 26-year-old former Marine is unassuming, almost self-effacing, about receiving the Navy Cross.

“It’s very overwhelming, but I don’t think it’s hit me yet,” Mitchell said in an interview after the ceremony, pausing every few minutes to chat with well-wishers and pose for pictures. “It’s an honor – the biggest honor I could ever fathom.”

Mitchell is the eleventh Marine to earn the Navy Cross for battlefield service in Iraq. Another Marine received the coveted award earlier this year for heroism in Afghanistan.

soda72 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 04, 2006, 02:27:49 PM »

Quote

former Marine

Geeesh, great article and they put that in there...

Once a Marine always a Marine...

Maverick · « **Reply #2 on:** August 04, 2006, 02:38:57 PM »

It was the truth as he left the service. It is no sign of a disgrace to be listed as such. All surviving Marines earn that distinction at some point in their lives. The only ones who don't are those who are forever on active duty, and those few who disgrace themselves in service.

Cpl Mitchell!

I wonder if Murtha was invited to the ceremony.

lazs2 · « **Reply #3 on:** August 05, 2006, 10:19:05 AM »

How many bronze stars and above have been awarded in this war?

thousands....

Some of the stories are beyond heroic and... by anyones standards... worth bieng told..

Now... look at how many of these stories are being told in the mainstream media. How many you guys see?

It is laughable that we are told that our news media is all right wing and ignores the nobility of the arab cause in iraq and "palestine" and other areab states... that we are all gung ho neocons..

Where are all these stories that would be interesting to any man? Would they not suit a right wing media?

lazs

midnight Target · « **Reply #4 on:** August 05, 2006, 10:29:01 AM »

Unfortunately lazs has a point here.

I went straight to google to valiantly link all the articles I found on this story from CNN and MSNBC....

I then went to CNN and MSNBC to search for the name "Cpl. Robert J. Mitchell Jr.".... nothing.

These are stories that need to be shared regardless of your position on the war.

lasersailor184 · « **Reply #5 on:** August 05, 2006, 10:40:48 AM »

MT, you just gave me an idea.

Skuzzy could host a server that compiles all these stories. Something like warstories.com or something clever. He compiles all the stories, hosts them and makes them very presentable. But all throughout the page are links and pictures over to AH2 website.

Are we up for it?

lazs2 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 05, 2006, 10:51:15 AM »

Thanks MT... I hate war but... it does bring out the best and the worst of people.

What is the point of constantly focusing on the worst? I think that the heroism of these hundreds of selfless and heroic people would interest anyone.

We all love heros but.... none of their stories are being told.

Certainly they can be told without glamorizing war or the whole political mess?

It just seems so petty to ignore them.

lazs

Hornet33 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 05, 2006, 11:00:27 AM »

That's one guy I'd like buy a beer for!!! A true Red White and Blue HERO!!!

Semper Fi

Bodhi · « **Reply #8 on:** August 05, 2006, 11:30:17 AM »

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #9 on:** August 05, 2006, 03:55:15 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by lazs2
Thanks MT... I hate war but... it does bring out the best and the worst of people.

What is the point of constantly focusing on the worst? I think that the heroism of these hundreds of selfless and heroic people would interest anyone.

We all love heros but.... none of their stories are being told.

Certainly they can be told without glamorizing war or the whole political mess?

It just seems so petty to ignore them.

lazs

I think its a matter of priority as far as the nightly news is concerned. There just isnt the time.

Captain Virgil Hilts · « **Reply #10 on:** August 05, 2006, 05:23:26 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by WhiteHawk
I think its a matter of priority as far as the nightly news is concerned. There just isnt the time.

Yeah. Sure it is.

Elfie · « **Reply #11 on:** August 05, 2006, 05:57:58 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by WhiteHawk
I think its a matter of priority as far as the nightly news is concerned. There just isnt the time.

It is a matter of priorities. Do the news networks want publish doom and gloom articles or do they want to publish articles that have good news in them?

If the news networks wanted to, they would make the time for stories such as this. They just dont want to.

Gunslinger · « **Reply #12 on:** August 05, 2006, 06:20:01 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by WhiteHawk
I think its a matter of priority as far as the nightly news is concerned. There just isnt the time.

So you've never heard the term "if it bleeds it leads"?

AWMac · « **Reply #13 on:** August 06, 2006, 07:46:48 AM »

Thanks Gunslinger. Dam good post!

Cpl Mitchell

To all the Military overseas that gave their best and those that gave their all. You are not forgotten.

Mac

US Army
'75 ~ '95

bj229r · « **Reply #14 on:** August 06, 2006, 08:05:15 AM »

Thursday when it as announced that charges were likely to be brought in the Haditha thing, EVERY news outlet led the top and bottom of every hour with it. Laura Ingraham stated the other day that there have been over a THOUSAND Bronze Stars with Valor awarded in Iraq---the 'with Valor' part is especially significant....but one would never know that, as the only time individual soldiers seem to get on tv is when they are accused of torture.

(Note: There is a movement afoot to make the commendations public...apparently they AREN'T right now...the soldier must give permission? Anyone heard about this?)