The insurgent tripped and Bellavia wounded him. A fourth insurgent then emerged from a closet in the bedroom, yelling and firing his weapon as he leaped over a bed trying to reach Bellavia. When another insurgent began firing from a floor above, Bellavia returned fire and killed him. When he entered a bedroom, the wounded insurgent followed, forcing Bellavia to shoot him. A second insurgent fired at him, and Bellavia wounded him in the shoulder. Bellavia promptly shot him and charged into the house. While the Americans took fire from various vantage points inside the house, Bellavia called in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle to shell the houses.ĭuring a lull in the fire, Bellavia approached the house again and observed an insurgent loading a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. 'A light switch went off.'Īccording to his Silver Star citation, Bellavia, armed with an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon gun, entered the room where the insurgents were holed up and sprayed it with gunfire, forcing the enemy to take cover and allowing the squad to move into the street. I wanted to be that leader that I promised I would be,' he said. Bellavia seethed when he heard the anguished screams of his fellow Soldiers as they were wounded. The insurgents were entrenched in a makeshift pillbox under a set of stairs. 'They just opened up on us with belt-fed machine guns,' Bellavia said. The pair of hard-nosed contingents clashed immediately when the door of that 10th house opened. By the time they arrived on the city's outskirts, the 1st ID had been in Iraq for 10 months and had been involved in every major battle in the war up to that point. But Bellavia's unit was battle-hardened, too. They had interpreters, combat cameramen and were well-trained. The insurgents holding Fallujah were formidable. official told ABC News that catching Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was said to be operating in the city, was 'the highest priority.' The operation ended in late April with the formation of the Fallujah Brigade, a unit composed of Iraqis, which was charged with keeping insurgents out of the city. Marine forces launched Operation Vigilant Resolve to take the city back from insurgents. The impetus for the battle began in March when four American private military contractors from Blackwater USA were ambushed and killed in Fallujah. Marine Corps and was the bloodiest battle of the Iraq war. 7, 2004, and ended more than six weeks later on Dec. Also known as Operation Phantom Fury, the operation was a joint effort by American, Iraqi and British forces to drive out the Iraqi insurgency in the city. 'I have had better birthdays, for sure,' Bellavia told the Military Channel in 2009.īellavia's men were mired in the opening stages of the Second Battle of Fallujah. What he unwrapped upon opening the doors to that 10th house would etch his name into history as a recipient of the Silver Star, the nation's third highest decoration for valor in combat. His Soldiers had searched nine houses along the street looking for six to eight insurgents that intelligence reports suggested were in the area. Now he was feet away from the front door of a house along an abandoned block in the city of 350,000. He had already seen his sergeant major, company commander and executive officer cut down by enemy fire, forcing him to assume command of A Company, Task Force 2-2, 1st Infantry Division. He had been awake nearly 48 hours, denied sleep by a cacophony of sporadic gunfire aimed at him and his platoon as they made their way through the streets of Fallujah, Iraq. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Nicholus Danielsen, acting platoon sergeant with the troop, while conducting clearing operations in Fallujah Nov. Morisson, Executive Officer with the 1st Infantry Divisions 3rd Brigade Reconnaissance Troop, directs Staff Sgt.

2nd battle of fallujah phantom fury