American Valor Quarterly Issue 6 - Spring/Summer 2009 | Page 40

the enemy. I told the men with me that our guys must have been were swarming into every house on the block, including the next
there as well, since they had been sent to help out. So I went down one down, where Staff Sergeant Melvin Blazer was killed when
the stairs as fast as I could, jumped out of the building, and ran clearing the house.
toward where the action was.
My lieutenant told me to go ahead and clear that building; they had
I ran right into a convoy of HUMVEEs and amphibious assault pulled all the Marines out after evacuating Staff Sergeant Blazer,
vehicles – there might have been a tank in there as well – that were so we knew there were insurgents in there. I was able to assemble
heading toward the school. I started waving, trying to get them to a quick squad with two of my team leaders. Before going in, I
turn around and head toward the firefight that was going on right looked around and saw a vehicle nearby with an Mk 19 grenade
behind them. A few of them turned around, and headed toward the launcher mounted on it. I pulled the Marines back and ran over
fight, so I continued on. When I got to the corner, I saw a Marine to the vehicle, telling the gunner to start laying fire into the house.
lying in the street, shot. It was one of the men from our platoon. After he fired off about ten rounds, my squad ran into the house
I ran up to him and asked what was going on. He was conscious to take on the insurgents.
enough to tell me that he had been hit, and that there was a fight
going on in a nearby house. He was able to drag himself to the After entering the first floor, we ran to every room, throwing in
grenades. After clearing the first floor, we had to move up to the
side, so I went ahead and moved into the house.
second floor. I took point, and one of the Marines behind me
One of the Marines – Corporal Ian Stewart – had been killed in the threw a grenade up to the second floor. After it exploded, two of
house. The insurgents were holding his body in a room upstairs, us started to make our way upward. After reaching the top of the
and the Marines were trying to retrieve him. I believe that when stairs, we ran into the room straight ahead, firing into the corner,
they got him, he was wounded but still alive. They started shooting the bed, and the wardrobe closet – we found that the insurgents
him in non-lethal parts of his body – not to kill him, but to torture often hid in the closets. When the room deemed clear, I turned and
found that the rest of the Marines had lined up on the staircase.
him. That was the kind of enemy we were fighting in Fallujah.
Once I saw there were enough Marines now in the house to take
care of these insurgents, I moved out from there and into the
next building to the east. It turned out it was already clear, and I
went up to the second floor where I linked up with my platoon
commander to try to figure out the situation. By this time Marines

Marine Corps Sergeant Jeremiah Workman (pictured third from left) is
presented with the American Veterans Center’s Paul Ray Smith Award
for 2006, for his heroism during Operation Phantom Fury. On the
far left is American Veterans Center President James C. Roberts, next
Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlton Kent.

The Marines were trained that once a grenade was thrown into
a room and it exploded, they should charge into the room to
catch the insurgents while they were off guard. The rest of the
Marines on the staircase had no idea there were two grenades
in that room – if they heard the first explode, they would have
run right into a room with the live second grenade about to
explode. Fortunately, I was able to run back over to them and
shout, “Get back!” just in time. They were all able to jump down
the staircase onto the first landing. Talking to one of the guys
later, he told me that he actually saw the grenade roll back out
into the hallway. After warning them, I tried to turn and take
cover in the cleared room.
At the same time the insurgents inside the room