We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder with the Marines Who Took Fallujah

Five months after being deployed to Iraq, Lima Company's 1st Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, found itself in Fallujah, embroiled in some of the most intense house-to-house, hand-to-hand urban combat since World War II. In the city's bloody streets, they came face-to-face with the enemy-radical insurgents high on adrenaline, fighting to a martyr's death, and suicide bombers approaching from every corner. Award-winning author and historian Patrick O'Donnell stood shoulder to shoulder with this modern band of brothers as they marched and fought through the streets of Fallujah, and he stayed with them as the casualties mounted.

“" We Were One is feelingly narrated by an intrepid war historian who risked his own life to capture every raw minute of their story. " --Hampton Sides, author of Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers”

Lieutenant Jeff Sommers "We Were One captures every action, every thought, but most importantly every emotion that goes with victory, and the loss of friends in battle." Sergeant James Conner "We Were One describes the hardships that our band of warriors endured as a family, and the sacrifices we were willing to make for each other when put to the ultimate test." Corporal Bill Sojda "We Were One is a perfect, no-shit, first-hand story about a group of brave young boys, strangers to each other, molded into Marines, and the war that made us men. A unique bond made us brothers-we fought for each other to stay alive. Feel the heartache, the glory, and the agonizing pain of each Marine as we tell our story of the brutal bloody battle for Fallujah. It is war at its worst fought by young men at their finest." New York Post "A real-time, eyewitness history ... The author's most important accomplishment among many is to put a human face on the troops who are fighting against some of the fiercest enemies America has ever encountered ... Read O'Donnell's excellent book and you will know that they are indeed, as were each preceding generation, "The Greatest." Marine Corps Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times, and

Patrick K. O'Donnell is the author of three previous books, including Beyond Valor, winner of the prestigious William E. Colby Award for Outstanding Military History. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.

The battle for Fallujah in November, 2004, was the most intense urban engagement fought by the United States since World War II. It was a battle unlike any other in recent history--civilians were used as human shields, or as bait to lure Americans into buildings rigged with explosives; suicide bombers approached from every street corner; and radical insurgents, high on adrenaline, fought to the death. The Marines were the first to fight in Fallujah, and the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment (3/1) bore the brunt of this epic battle. Within the battalion, Lima Company's 1st Platoon saw the worst of it. At the end of the battle only fourteen of the platoon's forty-nine Marines were left standing. Award-winning author Patrick O'Donnell was "embedded" with this modern band of brothers as he marched--and fought--side by side with the soliders of the 1st Platoon, and he stayed with them as the casualties mounted. In riveting prose, O'Donnell captures not only the sights, sounds, and smells of the gritty street fighting, but also the human drama of young men from a close-knit platoon fighting and dying for each other. We Were One chronicles the 1st Platoon's story from its formation in February, 2004, to its near destruction among the smoldering ruins of Fallujah. It is a story of the next "greatest generation"--the valiant Marines who fought bravely and died in the fiercest battle in the Iraq War. As The Humvee Carrying The Badly Wounded Sergeant Conner and the lifeless body of Mike Hanks pulled away, a remarkably composed Corporal Bill Sojda assumed command of what was left of 3rd Squad. The men's faces were ashen, their eyes filled with tears. Lance Corporal Jacob de la Garza, the lastsurviving member of Hanks' fire team, covered his head with a brown scarf. Garza was spent. His face looked like he had aged ten years, and he said nothing to his buddies. Lane Corporal Steven Wade grabbed his hand and said, "Garza, we'll get you home." The remaining men in the squad held hands. According to Derick Lowe, "It was our way of silently saying, 'We came through this, we are going to make it out of here together no matter what happens.'" The battle continued to rage, and 3rd Squad still had work to do. As they pushed on to clear the next house, "Natasha," a D-9 armored bulldozer on loan from Israel, leveled the building where Hanks died. Natasha was said to be named after an Israeli woman, the wife of an army officer, who was killed by a suicide bomber. As the squad watched the destruction of the building, no one said a word. It was instant justice.

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