Another serviceman returning from Iraq – this time a member of the Royal Marines. And there was an interesting comparison to it being like Vietnam. Still it gives you an idea of what the conditions were like out there.

Marine glad to be back home after coming under heavy fire in Iraq

A ROYAL Marine has told how his unit came under heavy shell fire as it thundered towards Iraq’s second largest city, on his safe return to Scunthorpe.

Mark Stow, of 40 Commando, recalled how marines were involved in heavy fighting, with up to 200 Iraqis on the road to Basra, in battles resembling those in Vietnam.

Mark, who had his 20th birthday in Iraq, said the marines had met little or no resistance on the road up to Basra, as many Iraqis fled their positions and abandoned their uniforms as they went.

Marine Stow said: “They knew we were coming and they retreated. A lot of them were throwing away their uniforms.”

He said that when they came across military bunkers, marines found abandoned uniforms, but no equipment. They had expected more resistance.

He said: “That was always the worry they tried to come around us. The military was a way of life. Saddam Hussein got everybody to be in the army by conscription.”

But the situation changed as they neared the entrance to Basra.

Mr Stow said: “There was a lot of fierce fighting, it was like Vietnam, where you had a date palm area.

“We had Operation James where we had to clear an area. We just went to clear the date
palms, and we knew there were enemy positions. but they were so well hidden.”

He said it was ‘a bit of a shock’ when they came under fire. He said: “We went through, and we heard straight away the tanks were firing. We saw tanks firing on positions and we thought ‘we are in the trouble today’.

“We got fired unon from the side and the front. When we got through there was firing from all directions. We were very, very, lucky. We did very well, we had no casualties on the day. There was a lot on the other side.”

The Marine tanks had spotted 200 heat sources on their infra red screens, each heat source being a person. He estimated there were over 70 Iraqi soldiers killed.

After this the resistance was not as fierce. He said: “When we went into Basra there was no resistance at all “

Throughout the conflict Mr Stow said he could see the fear in the Iraqi people’s eyes, as they thought the soldiers would just shoot them.

He said: “At the start they were very scared when we were doing Vehicle Check Patrols (VCPs). I tried to keep them calm, they were worried.

“We’ve just got to keep control of the situation and move on. We are just going there to do our job. They think we are going to be killing them. I can’t really explain it. You just get on with it, you can’t really dwell on it.”

Mr Stow said he was now glad to be home where a big family celebration is to be held to celebrate his birthday.

From the Scunthorpe Telegraph on Saturday, May 17, 2003.