[ad_1]
SPRINGFIELD — Don’t expect to read these personal accounts of active-duty U.S. Marines in American history textbooks or see them accurately dramatized on television or movie screens.
Even if veterans retell these stories of their wartime experiences someday later, they may miss details that they have forgotten over time. However, the descriptive stories and experiences in the new book, Hell on the Streets of Husaybah, will give history buffs the “real deal” because they are recorded in the moment, straight from the mouths of the Marines, told right in the field during the Iraq war, some said just as events were unfolding.
Lt. Col. David E. Kelly, USMC, Ret., now a resident of Springfield, was appointed Field Historian in 2004.
He used his field story journal notes, along with transcriptions of the recordings he made of the interviews, to write his first book, Hell on the Streets of Husaybah, recently published by Casemate. The Marines’ accounts provide a clear and chilling account of the fighting that took place in a small Iraqi town.
During the April 2004 fighting in Iraq, most media attention was focused on the city of Fallujah. But at the same time, on the border with Syria, in and around the town of Husaybah, fighting was just as intense. The book focuses on Husaybah, Iraq, and the first-person accounts of Marines assigned there.
Although Kelly conducted more than 190 interviews in 2004 alone, he based his new book on 22 of the interviews with Marines at all levels of combat, from battalion commander Lt. Col. Matt Lopez, USMC, to infantrymen and squad leaders. When Lima Company Commander Capt. Richard Gannon (call sign Lima 6) was killed entering an enemy-held building, Company Executive Officer Lt. Dominique Neal (Lima 5) informed his Marines that he had assumed command by radioing, “Lima 5 is now Lima 6.” He also described the heroic actions of Corporal Jason Dunham, who saved the Marines around him by covering an enemy grenade with his body.
The book’s author, David Kelly, brought his own field experience to the interviews. Kelly grew up in Philadelphia, attended West Catholic High School for Boys and earned a degree in International Relations from St. Joseph’s University. In 1971, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps and was commissioned as a second lieutenant at Officer Candidate School.
His first assignment, after training, was to the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines in Okinawa, Japan. He served as a rifle platoon commander. His battalion deployed as part of an amphibious readiness group off the coast of Vietnam for five months. While three-quarters were available in the South China Sea, the Paris Peace Accords were reached in early 1973 and the battalion was never required to respond in Vietnam.
Kelly returned to the United States and was stationed at Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD), Parris Island, and served as the series commander and later as the classification and testing section chief. Lt. Col. Kelly was released from active duty in 1974 and began a 41-year teaching career in 1975 in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, beginning at Archbishop Wood High School and then at the former St. James in Chester, from 1976 until its closure in 1993, where he taught English, Spanish and History. He also coached track and field and moderated the yearbook and school newspaper and directed musicals there. From there, he taught for one year at Monsignor Bonner High School, 11 years at Lansdale Catholic High School and then, from 2006 to 2017, when he retired, Kelly taught history at Cardinal O’Hara High School.
While teaching, Kelly continued his military career in the reserves as a rifle platoon leader and company commander in 1975 with Echo Company, 2/25. From 1984-94, the Lt. Col. served at various personnel training establishments in Quantico, Virginia. From 1995 until his first retirement from the Marine Corps Reserves in 2000, Kelly served with the USMC Field History Detachment at the Washington, DC Navy Yard.
While in Washington, he did extensive research to help publish an official Marine Corps commemorative anthology entitled Marines in the Spanish-American War.
“I enjoyed this research project because I majored in international relations in college and minored in Latin American studies, so this project was on a topic that really interested me,” Kelly shared.
Kelly also had training in Haiti and Marines in Europe, where he was assigned to Marine Corps headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, and an air base in Aviano, Italy, which flew missions over the former Yugoslavia.
In 2003, Kelly attended a Marine Corps dinner in Washington.
“Marines always come together on Marine Corps Birthday on November 10th every year,” Kelly said. “I spoke to a commanding officer and jokingly said, ‘If you ever need help you can always call old pensioners like me and sure enough he called me and I’m back in the field for a six month tour!’
In 2004, Kelly agreed to return to active duty to deploy to Iraq as one of only two naval historians there. During this time, he interviewed the Marines, which later served as the basis for his first book. During the planning stages of that year, the Marine Corps trained for security and stability operations, but events would overtake this planning as a full-scale insurgency began in the spring of 2004. Kelly began his tour of duty in Iraq with several days of briefings at Camp Fallujah, about thirty miles west of Baghdad. During their five-month deployment to the Middle East, Lt. Col. Kelly and his historian partner, Maj. John Piedmont, traveled to interview Marines in all areas of Iraq.
“When I flew to Iraq in 2004, all the training I had in the late ’90s automatically kicked in,” Kelly said. “Major Piedmont and I would split up and cover different units to conduct the field interviews. We usually flew at night to different places. Every time we moved into another area I said “Act of Contrition” because we never knew what danger zone we would be in next. It often took two to three days to get to the next block and back.
After obtaining the necessary permissions in advance to conduct the interviews, the historians would question the Marines about their backgrounds, past combat experiences and what has been going on since their arrival in Iraq. Kelly said many of the Marines keep their own journals to document details of their experiences along the way.
Upon completion of the deployment, all oral interviews and photographs were downloaded to CDs and submitted to the Marine Corps Oral History Unit located in Quantico, Virginia. Kelly retired again after completing the deployment and returned to civilian life. After retiring from his teaching career, he obtained the necessary permission from the Marine Corps to turn the interviews into interesting reading for those interested in history and reading about wars and military life from a first-person narrative and a human perspective. He says he wanted to write the book because, as far as he knows, nothing else has been written about the fighting in Husaybah.
Kelly completed his lifetime as a US Marine, awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal with Star, War on Terrorism Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Marine Corps Reserve Medal, Two Stars, Service Medal of the Republic of Vietnam, Iraq Campaign Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
Married to his wife Terri for 46 years, the couple has two children, Donna Romero of Havertown and Rosemary Sullivan of Middletown, as well as three grandchildren. Although he has retired from teaching, he continues to assist the high school’s Cappies program, a writing and awards program that trains theater and journalism students to be expert writers, critical thinkers and leaders as they watch and write play reviews.
After the book was published this year, Kelly says he received a message from one of the Marines featured in the book.
“He wrote me and said, ‘Sir, thank you for telling my story,'” Kelly said. ‘I’m so glad you included my story.’ It reaffirmed to me how important it is to document and share the stories of these Marines so that they become part of written history.”
Kelly will speak about the book in a special appearance at the American Helicopter Museum and Education Center, 1220 American Blvd., West Chester, at 7:00 p.m., Friday, July 29. He will also present a program about his book, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 30 at the Springfield City Library, 70 Powell Road., Springfield.
The 148-page book contains color photos of the interviewees, as well as a glossary, index and map. For more information email dekellyusmc@gmail.com/. Hell In The Streets of Husaybah is currently available on Kindle and in hardcover at http://Amazon.com/.
[ad_2]
Source link