Warrior Biographies
 | Sgt. Byron Wayne Norwood, USMC, was 25 years old when he was killed in action in Fallujah, Iraq on Saturday, Nov. 13, 2004. Sgt. Norwood was serving as a squad leader with the Weapons Co., 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division (3/1), and was in his second deployment to Iraq. He had also deployed by sea in late 2002 as a member of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) which operated from the USS Belleau Wood in the Middle East. The battalion was one of the spearhead units for the assault on Fallujah and had entered the city from the Northwest on Day 1. They captured the train station and university on schedule before moving south to be involved in difficult house-to-house fighting by the end.... Read More about Sgt. Norwood's story... |
 | I was born and raised in Texas. I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1995 and spent 6 years as a Machine Gunner. I was commissioned in 2001 and became an infantry officer. I deployed to Iraq in March of 2004 with 1st Battalion 5th Marines. 30 days later we launched into Operation Vigilant Resolve also known as the First Battle of Fallujah. A week later part of my platoon was ambushed in an attack that left me severely wounded. I was struck in the leg with an RPG while standing in the TC hatch of an AAV. Still in enemy territory, my Marines were able to establish a hasty defensive position, pull me from the burning trac to safety and rendered first aid, repel one hell of an attack by the enemy which left over 100 enemy dead, and were able to link up with the quick reaction force who had to fight their way into enemy territory to find us. Read More about my story... |
 | I dreamed of joining the United States Marine Corps from the time I was fourteen years old. I was very patriotic for my age, and knew even as a teen that my country meant the world to me. I enlisted in the Marines on December 17, 2001 at the age of twenty. It’d been just three short months since the tragic events of September 11 had occurred, and the images from that day were still freshly burned into my head and heart. Upon completing boot camp I attended the Marine Corps School of Infantry, and continued on my journey of becoming a true warrior: a Marine Infantryman. I would eventually be stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, and was lucky enough to become a member of the most highly decorated battalion in the Marine Corps, the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, where I was attached to Golf Company, First Platoon. .... Read More about my story... |
 | Purple Heart Recipient Marine Corporal Casey Owens, graduated from Mayde Creek High School and joined the Marine Corps shortly after 9/11. He deployed for his second tour in Iraq in August 2004 and were his unit was responsible for one of the most violent parts of the country at the time in the Al Anbar Province in the town of Husaybah. On September 20, 2004 while responding to a wounded Marine.... Read More about my story... |
