Spc. Jimmy D. Lane Jr.
1st BCT PAO
FORWARD OPERATING BASE DAGGER, Tikrit, Iraq -Soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, Task Force Liberty, held a ceremony at Forward Operating Base Dagger to receive their combat patches April 4.
The 1st BCT is a 3rd Infantry Division unit from Fort Stewart, Ga. attached to the 42nd Infantry Division of the New York Army National Guard.
Operation Iraqi Freedom III is not the first time Soldiers from these two divisions have fought side by side.
"The combat patches being presented today are a reminder of another point in history where the Rainbow Division and Marne Soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder on the battlefield as we do today," said Col. Mark McKnight, 1st BCT commander.
"In the summer of 1918, the 42nd Infantry Division and the 3rd Infantry Division defeated the German army at the second battle of the Marne, making the turning point of the First World War."
Maj. Gen. Joseph Taluto, Task Force Liberty commander, presented commanders of TF Liberty and their command sergeants major with 42nd Inf. Div. combat patches.
"It is hard to believe how much a small piece of cloth can mean to a Soldier," Taluto said.
Taluto went on to explain how throughout history, Soldiers have always been proud to don a combat patch on their shoulder as a sign of having been in a battle.
The date of the ceremony was significant because two years ago to the day the 1st BCT deposed former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
"As the sun rose over Baghdad, the regime of Saddam Hussein awoke to a new reality," McKnight said. "Their propaganda could no longer stand up to the light of that morning sun.
The Raider Brigade, as the first element of the first Infantry Division, had arrived in Baghdad. We came not as conquerors but as liberators. We came to help the Iraqi people shove aside a tyrant as the Iraqis embraced freedom and liberty as if they were a long lost brother."
McKnight asked the Soldiers to be proud of the patch they were now authorized to wear and to keep Soldiers of the past in their minds.
"I would like all of you to remember one thing," McKnight said. "When you look at the combat patch you earned here today, remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country."
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| Date Taken: | 04.12.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 04.12.2005 13:03 |
| Story ID: | 1571 |
| Location: | TIKRIT, IQ |
| Web Views: | 403 |
| Downloads: | 19 |
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