IRAQ: The close fight
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After a bloody battle with insurgents in Fallouja in April 2004 in which the two sides came to within a few dozen yards, Marine Capt. Douglas Zembiec said of his young Marines ‘they fought like lions.’
Soon, the phrase came to apply to Zembiec and his own bravery and he became known as ‘the lion of Fallouja.’
Strong, charismatic and thoroughly dedicated to his Marines, his family, and the American fight against terrorism, Zembiec served two tours in Afghanistan and was killed on his fourth tour to Iraq in May 2007 while leading an assault on an insurgent hideout in Baghdad. He left a wife and daughter.
He had been promoted to major but was restless with staff jobs and demanded combat assignments. Marines and journalists who knew him routinely swap ‘Zembiec stories’ — about his humor, his courage, his career as a wrestler at the Naval Academy, and his unabashed joy at fighting his nation’s enemies.
On Thursday, several high-ranking military officers gathered for a ceremony at Camp Victory in Baghdad to praise Zembiec and to dedicate a helicopter landing-zone in his honor.
Marine Maj. Gen. John Paxton remembered Zembiec’s ‘discipline, endurance and reliability’ and said it had been a privilege to know him.
Gen. David Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Force Iraq, called Zembiec a legend and ‘a courageous warrior’ whose example inspires others.
‘He was a true charter member of the brotherhood of the close fight,’ Petraeus said.
— Tony Perry in Al Asad, Iraq