America's North Shore Journal

This is the third post in a series about the death in combat of Western New Yorker, Lieutenant Colonel Terrence Crowe. See Iraq: Area Man Killed in Action and Iraq: Terrence Crowe for the earlier posts on this loss.

The New York Times and the Houston Chronicle have provided more information about the battle in which Lt. Col. Crowe lost his life.

NY Times via International Herald Tribune

The fight also intensified north of the firehouse. Iraqi soldiers attached to Troop F, another of Sabre’s maneuvering units, moved up an alleyway when they reached a bend. Two Iraqi soldiers and an American stepped into the bend when a machine-gunner on the roof shot and wounded the American.

The Iraqi soldiers retreated to the street. But Sergeant 1st Class Gary Villalobos corralled some Iraqi troops and tried to save the American soldier. While the sniper continued to fire into the alleyway at the wounded American, Villalobos used body language to get the Iraqi troops to join him in returning fire, said Captain Jesse Sellars, the commander of Troop F. Eventually the sergeant was able to loft a well-aimed hand grenade at the roof, killing the gunman. Troops got the wounded American to a waiting vehicle, but he died. His name was withheld pending notification of his next of kin.

Lt. Col. Terrence Crowe, the senior U.S. military adviser to Iraqi forces here, was leading a platoon of Iraqi soldiers ‘ the kind that Americans are struggling to mold into an effective counterinsurgency force ‘ when he was gunned down in an ambush.

The only American with Crowe when the cascade of machine-gun fire erupted on June 7 was Sgt. First Class Gary Villalobos, of Santa Maria, Calif. He performed heroically in extricating the mortally wounded Crowe while wiping out Iraqi attackers, said U.S. military commanders who have nominated Villalobos for the Silver Star.

The behavior of the Iraqi troops did not seem as laudatory. Most of the 17 Iraqis in the patrol broke during the initial outbreak of gunfire and faded from the street fight, said Villalobos and his squadron commander, Capt. Jesse Sellars, who was nearby. A few Iraqis stayed and tried to help but were unable to reach Crowe.

Villalobos said he is unsure if Crowe, 44, who was hit instantly several times as the shooting began, could have survived if the Iraqis had effectively returned fire and swiftly evacuated the wounded officer. But he said, “I think it would have (helped him) if we could have gotten him in a few minutes instead of 15.” [snip]

The same could be said for Villalobos. As he told his harrowing account of the June 7 ambush, dried blood could be seen on his uniform. He neglected to mention that earlier in the day he had narrowly escaped injury when an improvised explosive device went off. The blast wounded an Iraqi soldier, and the blood splashed on Villalobos’ clothing.

Crowe, a professor at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., and the father of two teenagers, deployed to Iraq with a New York National Guard unit. According to those serving with him, he was a respected combat leader. “Every time you saw (him), he was leading from the front. That is what he was doing when he was killed,” Villalobos said.

On June 7, the patrol headed into Tal Afar, a town about 90 miles from the Syrian border, around 8 a.m., looking for insurgents. The soldiers entered an alley, turned a corner and were ambushed. Crowe, who was about 10 yards from the hidden Iraqis, was hit immediately.

Sellars, who was engaged in a skirmish a few blocks away, said the volume of fire “was overwhelming to hear.”

Villalobos admitted that he was terrified. He wanted to reach Crowe immediately, he said, but had to return fire to defend himself. He had seen the flashes of the Iraqis’ weapons. But, as the sound of gunfire echoed through the alley, he initially thought he might be under attack from the rooftops as well.

In the whirlwind of the gunfire, Villalobos said, he couldn’t make himself understood to the Iraqi soldiers who had stayed at the scene. Lacking proper training, they simply mimicked his actions, stopping their fire when he stopped, he said. It proved impossible to coordinate efforts to reach Crowe. After several minutes, he threw a grenade at the spot, about 60 feet away, where he had seen the initial flashes of gunfire. “All I know is, after the grenade, the firing stopped,” Villalobos said.

Other soldiers determined that at least one Iraqi insurgent had been killed by the grenade and a few others wounded.

Asked how he felt during the fight, Villalobos said, “I was scared out of my mind. The only thing I could think about was getting Lt. Col. Crowe out.” He then quoted a line from the creed that every American soldier has learned and that U.S. advisers are trying to instill in the Iraqi troops: “I will never leave a fallen comrade behind.”