Local Marine tells of his experience during the battle of Fallujah
It was a warm welcome home for Marine Sgt. John Wodkowski at the early Sunday morning service at St. Ignatius Catholic Church. Rev. Charles Donajkowski had the 1996 RCHS grad stand in front of the congregation where he was given a thunderous round of applause. It was a reception well-received by Wodkowski and his family attending the service with him.
John’s father Bob Wodkowski said it’s such moments that make him feel extremely proud of his son. John has been visiting his father and mother Marcie since last week and has enjoyed the time in his hometown. “It’s been great,” said Wodkowski.
THE EIGHT-YEAR veteran has been back in the states for a couple of weeks after his second deployment to Iraq. Wodkowski, who is a machine gunner in the Third Battalion of the First Division, took part in the bloody four-day siege of Fallujah last November. The city had become a hornet’s nest for insurgents and the military decided it was time to end the stranglehold. With bullets flying in every direction and danger at every step, the Marines led the mission to reclaim the city.
“Before we went into the city, we passed out flyers (to the residents) and everybody that didn’t want to fight us, left the city,” said Wodkowski. “There weren’t very many civilians. Our battalion alone captured 1,500 insurgents, and that’s not including the ones that got killed.” During the operation, Wodkowski operated a machine gun vehicle as houses were cleared. He said there appeared to be a lot of foreign fighters from Syria, Lebanon, and even Egypt involved in the battle.
“THERE WERE some close calls and I did have some friends that did die over there, so it’s pretty tough,” said Wodkowski. Although Fallujah is a safer place, Marine units are still patrolling the streets of the city and are still getting shot at. Wodkowski’s peacekeeping efforts have included more than 100 combat patrols in the war-torn country. “Honestly, I don’t think they like us at all,” Wodkowski said of the people of Iraq. “You can just tell. You get glares when you walk down the street, little kids will throw rocks at you. I think they know they need us there, but they don’t really want us there. They just want it to be over with.”
Wodkowski was pleasantly surprised at the turnout for the national election at the end of last month, and hopes it’s step in the right direction. There has been talk of sending the First Division back to Iraq in September, but more than likely, it will be the Second Division from the east coast. WODKOWSKI’S GIRLFRIEND of four years, Adrian Miller, accompanied John on the trip to northern Michigan. Miller, who is from Lakewood, California, is also in the service. She is a sensor operator in the Air Force. “I steer the camera that’s on the unmanned aircraft,” Miler said. “We fly daily missions over Iraq and Afghanistan, so I was watching over him while he was there.” Miller is stationed on Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Miller said ground troops are visible from the Predator and if a target is located, one of duties is to lock missiles located on the aircraft on the target and inform the pilot, seated next to her on the other side of the globe. John and the rest of the family were joined by his sisters Tina (Wodkowski) Elliot and Amanda (Wodkowski) Fisher. Amanda, who serves in the Air Force, surprised everyone when she drove from Florida to Presque Isle County without telling anyone. For Bob and Marcie it was a nice family gathering with three of their four children together under one roof for the first time in a long time.
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IN OTHER news from area servicemen, Pfc. David Quaine sent a Valentine’s Day greeting Monday to his family in Rogers City. The Quaines have been telling David of the mild conditions the last couple of weeks and predicted that we’ll get more snow. “I put money on it that you guys will get pounded by some snowstorms and will probably have an extended winter,” stated David’s email from Baghdad. Quaine said he stayed up until 5 a.m. to watch Michigan in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day and wasn’t too
“Yesterday, we had like 20 mortars hit,” Quaine stated in a January 4 email. “We just kept hearing loud bangs all morning. It was pretty crazy. On January 31, Quaine described the reaction of the people following the election.
“We finally got to see some footage of the election and man, people were dancing and crying,” stated Quaine. “I guess it really did mean a lot to them. You know that makes us feel a lot better about things over here, also.” *** *** ***
ANY INFORMATION provided to The Advance about or from those serving in the military would be greatly appreciated. Drop off the information at The Advance or email it to advancepete@speednetllc.com.