IRAQ: ‘No place I’d rather be’

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Times photographer Rick Loomis writes movingly in today’s newspaper and website about the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Aaron Austin and his decision to help carry the mortally wounded Texan off the battlefield rather than take his picture.

I visited the Jolan district of Fallouja this month to see the neighborhood where Austin and other Marines fought valiantly against insurgents in April 2004.

The two sides closed to within 20 meters, lobbing grenades and firing machine guns. For a brief moment the outnumbered Marines were in danger of being overrun.

Austin, 21, a machine gunner, helped evacuate the wounded. With the insurgents pushing ever closer to the Marines’ outpost, Austin left his protected position to hurl a grenade.

The grenade struck a bull’s-eye, helping to repel the insurgents’ assault. In the process Austin was wounded, leading to the desperate attempt to carry him for medical care.

For his bravery, Austin was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. ‘All the Marines stepped up, and Aaron led the way,’ Sgt. Maj. Bill Skiles said.

To those who knew Austin, his selflessness was not surprising. The night before he was killed, Austin had led a prayer session asking God to protect his fellow Marines but asking nothing for himself.

‘There’s no place I’d rather be than here with my Marines,’ he had told me two days earlier.

The Jolan district is returning to normal these days. Families have returned. Stores and schools are opening. Few signs of the April 2004 battle remain, including the small memorial that his fellow Marines built to honor Austin.

— Tony Perry in Fallouja