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HONORING A REAL GUARDIAN ANGEL The Legacy of a War Hero Reminds us That Freedom Comes at a Price By David Peterson
n October 8, 2002, Marine Staff Sergeant (SSG) David Wilson was getting ready to take his squad through a simulated urban assault on the island of Failaka in Kuwait. Failaka had been the site of a significant battle between Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard and the Kuwaiti Army during the invasion of Kuwait in August of 1990. The island, located 20 km off the coast of Kuwait City in the Persian Gulf, was left largely in ruins after the invasion, so it was an ideal place for the 160 Marines to train for urban combat. SSG Wilson, concerned his live ammunition would get mixed up with the blank ammunition being used by his squad, dropped off his M16A2 rifle and his ammunition with Corporal (CPL) James Cottrell who was serving as the unit’s overwatch or guard. CPL Cottrell had just taken his squad through the simulated assault course and had relieved the Marines serving as guards so they could go to the beach to relax. Since this was a training mission, most of the Marines were unarmed or had blank adapters on their weapons making them unable to shoot real bullets. A few of the officers and senior non-commissioned officers carried 9mm Beretta sidearms. As SSG Wilson escorted his squad into the bombed-out schoolhouse they were using as a training site, he heard the unmistakable sound of AK-47 gunfire. He ordered his squad to hunker down, and he ran to the roof to see what was going on. When he got to the roof, he saw that a red and white striped Nissan pickup truck had driven onto the beach and two heavily armed jihadist terrorist had opened fire on a large group of unarmed Marines relaxing on the beach. He also saw CPL Cottrell, who was in possession of the only M16A2 rifle on the beach capable of shooting live ammunition, running straight at the truck, stopping and shooting as he advanced toward the truck. CPL Cottrell placed rounds in the tires, engine block, radiator, windshield, and drew the combined fire of the terrorists away from the Marines on the beach and onto himself. Captain Matthew Reid, First Sergeant Timothy Ruff, and Gunnery Sergeant (GySgt) Wayne Hurtz were in a tent playing cards when the shooting broke out. The three of them each had Beretta 9mm handguns with full magazines. As rounds started hitting all around them, they ran out of their tent to see where the gunfire was coming from. They saw the Nissan pickup truck and engaged. GySgt Hurtz said, “I remember only two things from that day: the sound of my flip-flops on the sand as I ran at that
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the journal entry | October 2020
