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News Flash 
Defense
Secretary Honors Marine Corps' 'Lion of Fallujah'
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 19, 2007 - Defense Secretary
Robert M. Gates paid an emotional tribute last
night to one of the Marine Corps' fallen heroes
of the war in Iraq.
At
the end of his speech at the Marine Corps Association
annual dinner in Arlington, Va., Gates talked about
the Marine who became known as "The Lion of
Fallujah."
Photo of Major Douglas Zembiec:
The secretary's remarks follow:
 "On
one wall of my conference room there is a large,
framed photo of a Marine company commander taken
during the first battle of Fallujah, in April
2004. He's speaking into a radio handset while
giving directions to his men as combat rages just
blocks away. It's a shot that could have been taken
of any number of Marines in any number of places
over the last century - at Tarawa, at Inchon, or
of Lieutenant Peter Pace at Hue, in 1968.
"During
that Fallujah battle, Captain Douglas Zembiec
and some men from his Echo Company were on a
rooftop drawing rocket-propelled grenades from
all directions. They tried to radio a tank crew
for support but couldn't get through. Zembiec
raced out onto the street through withering fire,
climbed onto the tank, and directed the gunner
where to shoot.
"After
the battle, he said that his Marines had 'fought
like lions,' and he was soon himself dubbed 'the
Lion of Fallujah.' He was an unabashed and unashamed
warrior, telling one reporter that 'killing is
not wrong if it's for a purpose, if it's to keep
your nation free or to protect your buddy.'
"Zembiec's
battalion operations officer described him as
someone who 'goes out every day and creates menacing
dilemmas for the enemy.' A newspaper profile
at the time described him as a 'balding, gregarious
man who, in glasses, looks like a high school science
teacher.'
"After
returning from Iraq, Doug was promoted and given
a desk job at the Pentagon. He chafed at the
assignment, volunteered to deploy again, and
was sent back to Iraq earlier this year. This
time, he would not return -- to his country or
to his wife, Pamela, and his 1-year old daughter.
"In
May, the Lion of Fallujah was laid to rest at
Arlington (National Cemetery) and memorialized
at his alma mater in Annapolis. The crowd of more
than 1,000 included many enlisted Marines from
his beloved Echo Company. An officer there told
a reporter: 'Your men have to follow your orders;
they don't have to go to your funeral.'
"Every
evening, I write notes to the families of young
Americans like Doug Zembiec. For you and for
me they are not names on a press release or numbers
updated on a web page, they are our country's
sons and daughters. They are in a tradition of
service that includes you and your forebears going
back to the earliest days of the republic.
"God
bless you, the Marine Corps, the men and women
of our armed forces, and the country we have
all sworn to defend."
SOURCE:
VNIS
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