Marine Corps News: Reporter John Koopman and the 3/4 Marines during the Iraq War www.MarineParents.com

Marines face resistance from Iraqi troops near Basra
Saturday March 22, 2003

Basra, Iraq -- Using tanks and armored assault vehicles, elements of the First Marine Division successfully attacked the military complex at the Basra International Airport early Saturday morning.

Taking the airport, the unit's first serious engagement of the war, was a key objective in the battle for Basra.

The attack started around 5 a.m. and was met with the most significant resistance that these Marines had encountered since rolling into Iraq early Friday morning.

As the Marines fired cannons and heavy machine guns into the military complex, which is just east of the airport, Iraqi soldiers responded with machine guns and mortars.

The heaviest fighting lasted about an hour, with Marine units also sweeping through the Sheraton Hotel next-door.

Several explosions could be seen through the windows of the hotel as Marines threw hand grenades to clear out any possible enemy resistance.

One Marine reportedly sustained minor injuries when he was struck by grenade fragments.

Many Iraqis surrendered, walking out in the middle of the field with their hands above their heads or waving white flags.

One prisoner told the Marine who processed him that many of his comrades had fled in the night.

As of late morning, Marines were engaged in mop-up operations on the outskirts of the airport.

On Friday, when the Marines first rolled into the Basra area, they had a hard time finding anyone to fight.

Marine tanks and Cobra attack helicopters fired on any piece of armor they could find, whether it was operative or not. Just in case.

What was billed as the first great battle of the Iraq war turned into a fast-paced march to the outskirts of Iraq's second-largest city, Basra. Expecting a hardened Iraqi garrison, they found, instead, mostly abandoned tanks and far fewer enemy soldiers than they had anticipated.

There were some pockets of resistance, quickly disposed of by infantry from the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines. There were Iraqi dead. No firm count was available. The destroyed vehicles burned and smoked for hours.

"We had guys out there killing the enemy," said Lt. Col. B.P. McCoy, commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines. "A lot of Iraqis simply surrendered, but there were a few out there who decided to make a stand.

"You've got to respect them for that."

Thursday evening, before moving into Iraq from a staging area in Kuwait, the Marines of the 3rd Battalion were mostly calm and ready to go.

"It's kind of like game day," said 1st Lt. Eric Gentrup of San Jose. "We made the team, and we practiced and practiced and practiced. This is our Super Bowl."

Still, he said, people were understandably a little nervous. "They're getting jacked up," he said. "The adrenaline is flowing."

The tension had been heightened in the wake of a friendly fire incident that occurred earlier in the evening when a Cobra attack helicopter accidentally fired a Hellfire missile at an M1 Abrams tank. The missile reportedly struck the rear of the vehicle and knocked off part of its armor but did not seriously injure the tank crew.

"When those guys regained consciousness, they were probably glad as hell to know that tank could take that kind of hit," said one Marine when he heard about it.

The helicopters were back out Friday morning, flying over the border, laying waste to any kind of Iraqi armor they spotted.

The Marines had been told that the Iraqis had a significant military presence in Basra -- regarded as a military prize second only to Baghdad -- and that the U.S. and U.K. forces that had been detailed for the attack might be outnumbered 6- or 8-1. But the Marines figured air superiority and better training and weapons systems would overcome the numerical disadvantage.

Crossing the demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait segued into a fast, bumpy ride over desert and scrub brush. Farmers watched from the doorways of low huts as tanks and armored personnel carriers roared by. White flags hung on homes. The locals waved to the passing Americans.

THE ROAD TO BASRA
The Marines arrived at their first major objective on the road to Basra, a local Iraqi army garrison. The barracks, which appeared deserted, were dirty, dusty, ramshackle structures built low to the ground. Soviet-era tanks and armored personnel carriers sat there. Many had been dug into the ground, with just their weapons exposed.

Marine tanks prowled the road, firing their 120mm cannons at anything that looked faintly menacing. For a while, a family of sheepherders was caught, frozen between the tanks and their targets. Marines motioned for them to get down and out of the way.

At one point, as the Marine tanks were looking left, Lance Cpl. Garfield Shealy, in Lt. Col. McCoy's humvee, looked right and saw an old T-55 tank buried there, its guns poking out. McCoy and Shealy ran out of the vehicles with their M-16s at the ready.

The tank's hatches were battle fastened. McCoy, Shealy and two other Marines pried them open with their rifles, swiveled the machine gun mounted atop the tank, then McCoy tossed a hand grenade inside. The tank rattled, and the earth shook.

'I can't let the young guys have all the fun," the battalion commander said.

Several Iraqi soldiers came out and surrendered. Others apparently had dropped their uniforms and had run for Basra. Helmets and pieces of clothing littered the roadside. After a brief firefight, the garrison was captured.

At dusk, fires could be seen on the horizon. Some rose from the wrecks of Iraqi armored vehicles. Others were of unknown origin. A large, thick cloud to the west looked like an oil refinery fire.

Having spent two months in the northern Kuwaiti desert, the Marines, mostly from the 1st Marine Division from Camp Pendleton (San Diego County) and Twentynine Palms (San Bernardino County), were more than ready to go to war.

On Tuesday, they had left their staging area, a tent city known as Tactical Area Coyote about 30 miles from the Iraqi border.

The men burned letters, envelopes and other personal items before packing up their gear and heading out to the armored personnel carriers and humvees that would take them north.

McCoy jumped onto the rear ramp of an assault vehicle and gathered the 1, 000 or so men of his unit around him. He said he had never seen a unit so keyed up to fight.

"You're ready," he said. "You've trained hard. You will experience fear. That's normal. Accept it. Just know you're not out there alone.

"These will be some of the most memorable days in your lives," he told his men. "Friends you make here will be friends for life."

McCoy then invoked the Marine Corps hymn and asked that, when engaged in battle, the Marines should "keep our honor clean."

With that, the Marines gave a loud "ooh-rah," ran to their vehicles and moved out. All day long they drove north, ever closer to the border.

WAR BEGINS
At 6.15 a.m. Thursday, they gathered around transistor radios to hear the president's announcement that the war was on.

Originally set to move out that evening, the troops finally headed for the border in the early morning hours Friday, lining the desert with a vast array of weapons and vehicles. Attack helicopters swooped over, flying north. Artillery batteries launched thunderous rounds of outgoing shells.

At the border, holes were cut in the long strings of concertina wire that had separated Iraq and Kuwait since the 1991 Gulf War. Combat engineers stood by to make more breaks, allowing more armor and infantry to cross.

E-mail John Koopman at jkoopman@sfchronicle.com.