In an ongoing series, NEWSWEEK publishes letters and e-mails from fallen U.S. troops in Iraq to loved ones and friends back home. The following are unedited excerpts from correspondence provided by families of the deceased.
Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew Zabierek
March 24, 2004
Dear Mom and Dad,
We started doing patrols through our area of operations a few days ago. The Iraqi people are very friendly and nice. The children and their parents come out to see us when we patrol down their street. Even when we [are] doing vehicle checkpoints and stop cars and search them, the people are still nice. That is either because they are just used to it or because they are too afraid to protest since we have a great deal of firepower. The only notable event that happened was that on our first day of patrolling we stopped a car with three Iraqis in it. They were driving a Mercedes with UK plates. We stopped them and there was a father, a son who was about my age and an old man in the back. The old man had a gunshot wound in his leg. I was serving as a translator ... I can catch bits and pieces of what they are saying but that's about it.
Anyhow, our lieutenant called into our command that we stopped these guys and they told us that these guys and their car are on a Coalition wanted list. So we detained them and brought them back to our base as prisoners. It turns out that these guys were major terrorists. They cracked under interrogation and ratted out a bunch of people. The Army conducted raids based on their interrogation and they arrested a dozen people and found major stockpiles of weapons and ammunition....
Love,
Andrew
Zabierek, 25, of Chelmsford, Mass., was struck and killed by a vehicle driven by an Iraqi in Fallujah on May 21, 2004.
May 5, 2004
Dearest Becky,
Happy Cinco de Mayo! I am now at the FOB. We are here for a few days. I guess it's okay. I would still rather stay in one spot, though ... Capt Ring said the change was for a little rest and to visit the internet, PC and whatever. I can see his point. My guys are very tired....
There are some people in the platoon that are having marriage problems, mostly it is always about money, of course there is the cheating one also, but that has not come up yet. Every time I hear about those problems, I thank GOD that I found you. I love trust and miss you very much. You are the reason why I fall in love with you every time I hear your voice, look at your pictures, or see you.
Went on a raid last night. Nothing found, including the person we were trying to take prisoner. We think that this person killed one of our Terps. Of course we think that someone tipped him off. Sometimes it gets very frustrating helping the Iraqis. Most of the time you get the feeling that they don't even care if you are trying to help. So we are asking ourselves why are we even here? Of course everyone in the States is asking the same thing. Even if Kerry gets elected we will still be over here for a long time. In fact 1st Cav is already scheduled for 2006 to come back. I just don't think I can keep doing these deployments. Even If I become a helicopter pilot I will still be deployed, and all I want is to be with you....
With all my love,
Nathaniel
Nyren, 31, of Pittsburgh, was killed on Dec. 28, 2004, when an Iraqi car slammed into his military vehicle in Baghdad.
Army First Lt. Ashley Henderson Huff
Feb. 3, 2006
Hey everyone,
Well, things have settled down for my company now that we've got our mission figured out and a semi-routine started. I'm in charge of 11 police stations in two different districts ... Everything that you imagine a police station to be in the US is probably the exact opposite here. Most have a generator with power for about three hours each day. Paperwork is actually on paper (forget about computers!) and usually kept in a notebook. We've been doing a lot of joint patrols where the Iraqi Police lead with three or four of their trucks and we follow. Sometimes we'll get out and do joint checkpoints at intersections or walk through the neighborhoods and markets. I'm trying to work on them developing some sort of system for tracking information on "bad guys" because they can't just fingerprint guys and type their info into a database! What's really crazy is that they don't have armored vehicles like we do, they just drive around in little Chevy pickups with a machine gun mounted in the truck bed and a guy with a turban holding on for dear life! They drive like maniacs because they think speed = safety so we're working on getting them to slow down.
The Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police and the U.S. are all working fairly well together, and we go to meetings where we coordinate on missions and bad guys we're planning to capture. At first the infantry guys didn't want to even talk to us when they came out to our police stations, but I've been working very hard to earn the respect of the two Captains that "own" the land my police stations are on. They are both starting to share info with me and we even went out and did a joint raid with them the other night....
Love, Ashley
Huff, 23, of Belle Mead, N.J., died on Sept. 24, 2006, in Mosul when a suicide car bomber drove into her mounted patrol.
Army Sgt. Joseph W. Perry
Feb 4, 2006
Hi, Babe,
Things are going good here working with the Iraqi Police. It's really different than the last deployment. I didn't like it at first because it's not a combat mission but the more I work with and train with them, I get to see their progress and really get a good feeling that they want to help their country. There are some that seem a little shady, but I am getting good at learning which ones I can trust and the ones I can't.
We had a pet dog at the station that we could feed and play with every day ... But it got hit by a car and he came back to the station bleeding so I put him down. It was kinda hard to do. We named him and he was very loyal.
Love,
Joe
Perry, 23, of Alpine, Calif., was killed on Oct. 2, 2006, by a sniper while patrolling the Dora market area of southern Baghdad.
Sept. 5, 2006
hey what up, hey i'm done with the taking back baghdad mission but now they got me going to an even [more] crappy place so that's cool. did you get the package i sent you? it had a hookah and soccerball in it. i sent it a month ago. yeah i saw the highlights on espn about the [Ohio State Buckeyes] when i was at the gym. i think they will have no problem with texas. And i saw that notre dame looked like crap. i'm not moving until friday so i have a little time now so I'm probably going to try to call you sometime soon around 9 to 12. well I'll talk to you later. Adam
Knox, 21, of Columbus, Ohio, was killed by small-arms fire in Baghdad on Sept. 17, 2006.
Army M/Sgt. Robb Gordon Needham
Sept. 19, 2006
Hey Lover,
Long day today. Didn't see any more dead cab drivers. Handed out a lot of stuff to the kids today (candy, pencils, and comic books). They would take anything free or not nailed down. Caught a little guy picking my pocket today. It has been surprisingly quiet for all the ops that are going on. Fred came in last night and woke me up at 0100 hrs for his key so I'm pretty tired. You take care..I'm taking a shower and going to bed.
Love ya always Robb
Needham, 51, from Vancouver, Wash., was killed by a sniper on Sept. 20, 2006 in Baghdad.
Nov. 16, 2006
I sort of miss snow. It's been colder here than at home lately. Makes for a rather interesting ride in open gun turrets. BRRRRRRRRRR!!!! I would still rather be in an open turret than the tank I am riding in now. Oh well....
Turcotte, 23, of Maple Grove, Minn., died on Dec. 4, 2006 when his armored vehicle overturned in Nasiriyah.
Oct. 16, 2006
Wassup cool people, I'm still moving around Iraq, living out of a rucksack until we get to our final destination, go to more stops then we can finally unpack. Going to a pretty rough part so continue to pray. Anyway yall be well and don't worry about me over here God is protecting me. Love Yall
Clayton, 29, of Marietta, Ga., died from wounds suffered in an improvised explosive device blast on Dec. 25, 2006, in Baghdad.