Graphic Story from Mosul

"Out on the street, the soldiers conducting that day’s search worked a neighborhood that, by Mosul standards, was affluent.

Many of the homes were opulent — with two, sometimes three stories, walled gardens, spacious though sparsely furnished rooms. Nevertheless, it’s a tough neighborhood. Delta Company, pulling perimeter security this day, had its first man killed just up the road. It happened late last summer, a roadside bomb.

On Dec. 28, Charlie Company, the same company searching the homes today, got into its only close-combat firefight in a house that they would revisit this day. So everyone knew it was a tough neighborhood.

Late that December night, based on intelligence from what is referred to here as “another government agency,” men from the company burst into the house .

As they pushed open a bedroom door, a burst of AK47 fire downed Staff Sgt. Gerald Bailey with a neck wound. Right behind Bailey, Sgt. Joseph R. Kramer, 28, of Pittsburgh, emptied a magazine from his M4 into the room, then flipped in a grenade, killing a man and woman. Kramer pushed his way into the next bedroom and was jumped by a knife-wielding man. Both fell to the floor, Kramer fending off knife jabs.

“Get this f---ing guy off me,” he shouted.

Sgt. Ronald Wooten, 30, of Farmington, N.M., stuck his M4 against the Iraqi’s head and fired. For that night’s work, both men have been awarded Bronze Stars for valor, and a Silver Star is pending for Kramer."