As Staff Sergeant David Bellavia and his platoon received orders to secure an entire
block in the city of Fallujah, Iraq, on November 10, 2004, the brave soldiers
covered the street door-to-door looking for Jihadists harassing the American troops.
It was until the tenth building they searched that the Americans found themselves inside
a heavily defended enemy bunker. They were in a highly precarious position,
and Bellavia decided to neutralize the terrorists on his own.
As he stepped into the house, he didn't know if he would make it out alive - let alone earn
the Medal of Honor for his selfless devotion to duty. But at that moment,
Bellavia was confronted with the enemy face to face. As he said later in an interview: (QUOTE)
"I didn't know what close combat was until I went to Iraq. And it's not 30 meters, it's 2 feet."
A Measured Approach
The American, British, and Iraqi government forces launched a joint
offensive known as Operation Phantom Fury during the tensest point of the Iraq War.
Led by the US Marines against local insurgents, the operation took place
in November and December of 2004 in the city of Fallujah, with the clear purpose
of weakening the rebel forces before the upcoming Iraqi elections of January 2005.
However, earlier that year, several coalition forces had already engaged insurgent elements
considered responsible for the passing of four private military contractors from a Blackwater
Security team. Control of the city was transferred to the 1st Marine Division in February,
but the team was ambushed a month later, and the incident led to the First Battle of Fallujah.
Political leaders back in the US disapproved of a measured
approach and demanded a massive assault across the entire city.
Operation Vigilant Resolve was launched on April 5 and lasted until the end of the month,
when the local population was ordered to keep the rebels out of the city.
Still, insurgent strength and control of Fallujah began to grow to an estimated
5,000-strong, mostly non-Iraqi force that included Chechens, Filipinos, Saudis, Libyans, and Syrians.
By then, most of the civilian population had fled the city, but many families didn't have the
means to evacuate their homes and wrote "We Are Family" on their doors, hoping to avoid attacks.
However, a Second Battle for Fallujah became inevitable by September,
and the US military continued pushing for the civilians to leave the city before the assault.
Urban Combat
Ground operations for the Second Battle of Fallujah began on the night of November 7,
2004. Navy SEAL and Marine Recon Snipers provided target marking on the perimeter as joint Iraq-US
Army Special Forces, together with Navy SEALs and Marines, covered the main objectives.
Supported by the US Army, the troops quickly captured the General Hospital, Blackwater Bridge,
ING building, and several villages to the west of the city. Meanwhile, the Marines
executed a diversionary operation in South Fallujah and secured the Jurf Kas Sukr Bridge.
Having distracted and confused the insurgents controlling the city,
the attackers proceeded to the all-out offensive.
Navy Seabees disabled electrical power at two stations north of the city while
two Marine Regimental Combat Teams attacked along the northern edge.
Two Army heavy battalion mechanized units and four Marine infantry battalions were
then tasked with clearing the buildings and intercepting any fleeing enemies.
As the British Army's Black Watch patrolled the main highways east of Fallujah,
the US Air Force provided close air support for the ground forces,
carrying out close-quarter precision airstrikes on enemy strongholds.
The six battalions entered the city under cover of darkness, and the assault began
in the early hours of November 8 with an initial artillery barrage and air attack.
The attackers then took the main train station and used it as a staging point.
By the afternoon, the Marines had secured several districts while the Navy Seabees
bulldozed the streets clear of debris, reaching the city’s center within a few hours.
However, the fighting was about to escalate into the most ferocious battle of the war,
with the US military acknowledging that it was: (QUOTE) "Some of the heaviest urban combat U.S.
Marines have been involved in since the Battle of Huế City in Vietnam in 1968."
Broken Contact
November 10, 2004, was Staff Sergeant David Bellavia's 29th birthday,
but that was the least of his worries.
His platoon was serving with Company A, Task Force 2-2, 2d Battalion, 2d Infantry Regiment,
1st Infantry Division, during Operation Phantom Fury, and it was assigned to clear
an entire block of 12 buildings from which Jihadists were firing on American troops.
The platoon mobilized and methodically scanned every house looking for something that would
give the enemy away. But nothing was coming up. Like Bellavia said:
(QUOTE) "Every time we fought this enemy, it disappeared."
His Commanding Officer then announced that they had locked a group of insurgents.
As the Sergeant recalled in an interview: (QUOTE) "Trapped in a building, they're not
going anywhere, they're not leaving, they're not going to go kill anyone or hurt anyone.
Let's go get them. There was just a lot more people in there than I anticipated."
When looking into the tenth building, the Americans unexpectedly walked into a Jihadist
nest with an ambush of insurgents armed with belt-fed machine guns.
Bellavia’s rifle was disabled by a round hit on the magazine,
so he got a saw gun and entered the building behind his men. He then realized it was a bunker.
As he put it: (QUOTE) "So, I just started firing. I could see these guys. I could see
the look on their face. I could see how confident they were. And I clunk empty,
and I look in the house and everyone's gone. I'm like I got to get out of here, and so I just ran
and I just remember feeling the rounds everywhere, and as I get to the gate of this compound,
someone just grabs me by my H harness on my IBA and lifts me around a wall,
and I thought, you know that was my shot and I had the enemy. I saw the
enemy and I broke contact. And that was one of the lowest moments of my life."
Decisions
David G. Bellavia was born in Buffalo, New York,
the son of a dentist and the youngest of four brothers. As a young man, he enrolled
in Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire, and the University at Buffalo,
where he became a theater major until he found his true calling and enlisted in the military.
Bellavia then became an infantryman in the US Army in 1999, and when he finished One
Station Unit Training, he was assigned to the Syracuse Recruiting Battalion.
Two years later, Bellavia faced a tough decision.
The young man had to choose between changing his military specialty,
submitting a hardship discharge, or remaining as an infantryman - a choice that would force
him to leave his family for 36 months on an unaccompanied tour to Germany.
However, after the September 11 attacks, Bellavia chose to fight.
In the summer of 2003, Bellavia’s unit was sent to Kosovo, where he served
nine months until he received direct orders to join the effort in Iraq.
After that, Bellavia stayed with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment in the
Diyala Province along the border with Iran and took part in several battles,
namely Najaf, Mosul, Baqubah, Muqdadiyah, and the fiercest of them all, Fallujah.
Close Quarters
As Bellavia got out of the Jihadist bunker in Fallujah, he couldn't help but feel helpless.
He recalled: (QUOTE) "I was scared, and as I ran out of ammunition, I ran out of the
house. And as I am ashamed and dishonored, I am thinking about what a liar and a coward I am…"
The spray of gunfire from his M249 had bought his men some
time to leave the building and seek shelter outside.
The Sergeant then followed, and he resolved to call in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle to shell the
houses as the squad regrouped both physically and mentally, getting ready to come back in.
Making matters worse, the Company had requested a bomb from air support, but it hadn't arrived.
Bellavia recalled: (QUOTE) "A bomb in Fallujah was like a number at the DMV.
Everyone wanted to renew their license. Everyone's getting bombs all over the
city. We're waiting. I got a number. And that number is not coming up."
As he realized the bomb would not come anytime soon, they had to act on their own,
even if it meant the bomb could drop while they were inside the house.
On top of that, the mighty Bradley wasn't able to maneuver in the narrow streets,
leaving Bellavia and his squad even more vulnerable.
Consequently, the brave man decided to step in and protect his men.
As they returned to the house, Bellavia spotted a reflection in a piece of mirror
and realized the enemy had spotted them. Without hesitating, he grabbed
his 40-millimeter and turned up the corner in a bold maneuver that caught the enemy by surprise.
Bellavia then saw an enemy loading up a rocket-propelled grenade,
but before he could react, the Sergeant cornered him in the room and put him down,
just as a wounded insurgent moved to the kitchen.
The American took a moment to radio a situation report, but the noise gave away his position,
and the wounded rebel came back to get him.
Levels
Bellavia tossed the radio away to confuse the enemy, who walked just in front of the
bedroom door. Bellavia then jumped on him and held him down, but then a single round went
sideways in the room, and he realized a third enemy was moving towards them.
Bellavia looked around and found a gap between the doorframe and the concrete
wall through which he fired at the incoming insurgent. Then he walked parallel to the wall.
Suddenly, another insurgent emerged from a wardrobe with an AK-47 under his arm,
and Bellavia took cover behind the piece of furniture.
The enemy then fired several rounds even though he didn’t know where the American was.
As the Jihadist stepped on the bed to seek higher ground, he lost his footing and fell,
allowing Bellavia to shoot him on the spot. Still, the man was only wounded and escaped upstairs.
The Sergeant went after him by following the trail of blood, and as he reached the second floor,
he inadvertently slipped. In an ironic twist, this action saved his life,
as a bullet hit the wall exactly where he was standing a fraction of a second ago.
Bellavia then tossed a grenade into the room where the enemy
hid, and even though it went off, he heard voices on the floor above.
The Sergeant then put a choke hold on the wounded Jihadist and finished him off.
At that point, the squad leader felt a desperate need for a smoke
and walked out to the balcony. But as he removed his helmet and put his gun away,
one last enemy jumped from the third floor just above him.
A Crazy Day
Fortunately for the American hero, the Jihadist miscalculated the landing,
and Bellavia shot him in the back and legs. Injured, the insurgent rolled off the roof.
The rest of the squad then secured the first floor,
but they were soon notified that the bomb was on its way.
Still, it was a dud. And so, as Bellavia put it: (QUOTE) "A crazy day ended, and we went on to the
next crazy fight. And there were plenty of those for the rest of the time we were in Fallujah."
Bellavia was awarded the Silver Star for his actions that day,
which was then upgraded to the Medal of Honor,
becoming the first and currently only living recipient of that honor for service in Iraq.
As he humbly put it: (QUOTE) "We're all changed because of combat, but that doesn't
mean we're negatively changed. You can be positively changed from a horrible experience,
and my experience is that I am better for it."
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