Herald Standard: Marine's battle for survival in Iraq recounted

A Jan. 26 mission to capture a group of insurgents who were reportedly inside a home on the edge of the town of Haditha, Iraq, turned into a battle for survival for a group of U.S. Marines.

When the battle was over, four Marines were dead and Richeyville native Sgt. William Meyers, 27, received injuries that will likely leave permanent scars.

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On Jan. 26, Meyers said their target was a two-level house on the edge of the town of Haditha. He gave an account of the day's events to be included in an internal publication at Ferguson Corp. HVAC, where he works at in Charlotte, N.C., as outside sales manager. "We were supposed to go in and capture 10 insurgents who were supposed to be hiding out there. Our time on target was 3 a.m. I was in charge of the assault team that was to go in, grab the bad guys and get out," Meyers said.

Debbie Meyers said the information the unit had received was a setup. When they arrived at the home, "nobody was there," she said.

On the way back to the base, the ambush began. "We moved about 100 meters when the first vehicle, an armored LAV (light armored vehicle), was hit with a roadside bomb on each side of it," Meyers said. "At that time, we were ambushed by about 30 to 60 insurgents with (RPGs) rocket propelled grenades, small arms and heavy machine guns. We were in a firefight with them for about 20 to 30 minutes. During the firefight, I was shot in the right shoulder, but didn't realize it until later," Meyers said.

Meyers was hit with shrapnel in his arm, leg and shoulder but he didn't become aware of that until later. Debbie Meyers said her son said there were "bullets flying everywhere."

"We started to regroup and come back in. We had driven a few hundred meters when my HUMVEE was hit with an RPG. The blast blew my goggles off my face and threw me almost over onto the driver. The rocket landed in the back of my vehicle where eight of my Marines were seated. The blast killed one instantly and three more died soon thereafter. Three more of my Marines in the back were also hit," Meyers said.


Sgt. William Meyers, a native of Richeyville, is shown during his hospitalization for injuries he received in an ambush in Iraq in January.

Semper Fi