Speech given at VVAW Memorial Day event, Chicago 2004.
I am a former Marine sergeant, and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I speak to you today in order to remember those Marines who were killed in action in Iraq last year and this year. I was assigned to the 1st Marine Regiment during the initial combat phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Rob Sarra at Memorial Day, Chicago 2004
On April 8, a day before my company reached Baghdad, we lost our first Marine to enemy fire. Pfc. Juan Garza, from Temperance, Michigan, was 20 years old and had been in the Marines for seven months when he was killed by an enemy sniper as our unit fought across the Diyala River four miles outside of eastern Baghdad.
In the ensuing months after the fall of Baghdad, my unit lost three Marines to accidents. Lance Corporal Adam Klieboker from Illinois was incinerated in an ammo dump explosion.... Read More
