Camp Pendleton Marks 10th Anniversary of Fierce Battle for Fallujah

At LAT, "Marines mark 10th anniversary of fight for Fallouja":

PICTURES: On 10th anniversary of #Fallujah, @USMC #veterans remember: http://t.co/UQAcZap0Xp #Iraq via @jhlad pic.twitter.com/SC9VvKMk9e

— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) November 8, 2014

Jim Simpson's son, Marine Lance Cpl. Abraham Simpson, was killed on the third day of the 46-day fight for control of Fallouja, Iraq, in 2004.

"My son was a devout Christian," Simpson said after an emotional ceremony Friday attended by hundreds of Marines, former Marines and family members on the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the second battle of Fallouja.

"He believed God would take care of him and if he died he would be going to a better place," Simpson said. "We know he's in that better place now."

Simpson's wife, Maria, said she is untroubled by the fact that Fallouja is now controlled by Islamic State militants.

The Iraqi army has been unable to hold Fallouja and other areas of Anbar province since the U.S. left in 2011. The U.S. is rushing military trainers to Iraq in hopes of improving the Iraqi security forces.

"Our son wasn't doing this for politics," Maria Simpson said. "We know he was doing the right thing at the right place at the right time."

By late December 2004, when the battle was over, 82 Marines and U.S. soldiers had been killed and more than 560 wounded. Eight Marines were awarded the Navy Cross for bravery, second only to the Medal of Honor.

A heavily armed insurgent force in Fallouja had been routed and the path cleared for an election in January, the first since Saddam Hussein had been toppled.

When recruits arrive for boot camp in San Diego or Parris Island, S.C., they are quickly tutored on Marine battles of the past: Belleau Wood, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Chosin Reservoir, Khe Sanh, and, now, Fallouja.

For Marines, Fallouja was the bloodiest, most prolonged fight since Hue City in Vietnam. Marines fought street to street, attacking buildings where heavily armed insurgents were barricaded.

Although historians will have the final say, odds are strong that, of all the battles fought by Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, the fight in Fallouja will be the most remembered.

About 6,500 Marines and 1,500 soldiers fought in Fallouja, backed by British and Iraqi forces and 2,500 U.S. sailors in support roles. Insurgent casualties are estimated at 1,200 to 1,500, with an additional 1,500 taken prisoner.

"We did our job and we did it damn well," said Maj. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, commander of the 1st Marine Division. "We took that city away from the enemy."