Battle of Baghdad International Airport

Battle of Baghdad International Airport
Footage of the battle shot by US soldiers
Date April 11, 2004 Location Baghdad, Iraq Result U.S. victory
Belligerents
United States	Mahdi Army
Commanders and leaders
CPT Peter Glass 2LT James McCormick SGT Christopher Lehman	Muqtada al Sadr

On Easter Sunday April 11, 2004, a battle was fought at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) in Iraq primarily between United States Army truck drivers, air defense artillerymen, armor, military policemen, engineers and miscellaneous logistics personnel and militants from Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army, along the Southwest side of the airport wall in an area commonly referred to as Engineer Village. That section of Baghdad International Airport was home to numerous engineering units, in particular the 389th Combat Engineers, a dining hall, and a convoy marshaling area.

History

Footage of the battle shot by U.S. soldiers

U.S. Army-produced documentary about the battle

On April 5, 2004, the radical young cleric Muqtada al Sadr called for a jihad against coalition forces and wanted to gain control of Al Kut, An Najaf and Sadr City. This led to widespread fighting throughout the Sunni Triangle. His militia was outmatched by the M1 Abrams tanks of the 1st Cavalry Division, however they knew that the Abrams tanks were dependent on resupply trucks. On Thursday night, April 8, the militia destroyed eight bridges and overpasses around Convoy Support Center Scania thus halting all northbound traffic into the Sunni Triangle.

The coalition forces were forced to survive on the few days of supply they had on hand in Iraq. That same evening, 2LT James L. McCormick's Humvee gun truck, Zebra, of the 1486th Transportation Company, fought off an enemy ambush at the turn into BIAP for about 20 minutes with him and SPC Brandon Lawson was seriously wounded. After medical treatment, both returned to their convoy. The next day, Good Friday and the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, the Iraqis ambushed every convoy that tried to enter or leave Baghdad International Airport including the ambush of the 724th Transportation Company. The next day all roads were coded black meaning that any convoy expected imminent attack. With no more convoys venturing out, the militia decided to attack the trucks where they parked.

By Easter Sunday, April 11, several hundred trucks parked behind the southwest wall of BIAP defended by the C Battery, 4-5 Air Defense Artillery. By then the 1st Cavalry Division was 48 hours from mission failure and required emergency resupply of fuel and ammunition. A fuel convoy of the 706th Transportation Company ventured out of BIAP and was ambushed, hearing the drivers pleas for help over the radio Lt James McCormick ordered his gun truck crew to head to the gate to go and assist the convoy as an Apache helicopter was shot down in an effort to assist and the drivers in the ambush said they were nearly out of ammunition. As the gun truck Zebra crew approached the guards at the gate, they were told they could not leave the compound and parked a Bradley Fighting Vehicle to keep all traffic in and out. Around lunch the Madhi Militia launched an attack near the south gate at BIAP. As the Zebra gun truck was heading back to their area they noticed that no one was on the berm overlooking the wall and thats when The attack began with suppressive fire on the guard tower closest to the gate while three sappers approached the wall just as 2LT McCormick ordered his driver, CPL Bryan Noble, to drive on the ramp in time to engage the three sappers and pushed back a larger force waiting to rush through the whole in the wall that the sappers were attempting to accomplish.

The five crew members of the Zebra then held off the rest of the Iraqi militants at the irrigation ditch 50 meters away for the next five to ten minutes while about a dozen more truck drivers came running to their assistance. For approximately 45 minutes, the enemy concentrated their attack on the section of wall occupied by the Zebra, and a handful of truck drivers fought back against intense small arms fire and repeated volleys of rocket propelled grenades.Lt James McCormick took command of that sector, he organized the defense and maintained that stance throughout the initial and most critical phase of the assault totally throwing the enemy into confusion and pushing them back from the wall and irrigation ditch.

The M6 Linebacker outside the gate to their left and truck drivers crowded around a Humvee on the dirt ramp two hundred meters to their right provided flanking fire toward the fleeing enemy who was pushed back and attempting to flea on an access road to the right. Military police of the 501st Military Police Company 1st Armored Division joined the truck drivers on the other ramp. 

Intermittent breaks in .50 Caliber M2HB fire mounted on a Humvee on the ramp to the right were halted to allow SGT Bryant, a 1AD 501st MP sergeant, to fire three consecutive AT-4 rounds into the enemy location that was captured on video along with the actions of Lt McCormick and his crew who fought alone for nearly 10 crucial minutes. Later four Humvees of F Battery, 202nd Air Defense Artillery Lt Jason Coad returned to the gate and added their flanking fire to the fight. They additionally responded to several soldiers at the mess hall firing towards the wall in a panic nearly hitting the Zebra gun truck crews and others defending the camp.

Lt Coad and his swift actions undoubtedly prevented significant friendly fire as the camp was packed with military and civilian truck drivers who were taking cover under trucks as the intense fire and indirect enemy fire was extremely heavy. Late in the battle, a HET convoy hauling tanks from the 1st Armored Division arrived at the gate and a colonel climbed up in the guard tower.

The Colonel instructed McCormick to back the Zebra off the ramp and bring up SGT Christopher M. Lehman's Humvee gun truck with a Mk 19 grenade launcher because McCormick's M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun could not hit the enemy mortar position behind a set of buildings, LT McCormick after coming off of the ramp then organized the defenders on the ground and running low on small arms ammunition asked for ammo to be brought up and eventually one soldier PFC Mealer of the 1487th Transportation company carried a helmet of loose 5.56 ammunition to McCormick and they all loaded magazines and conducted volley fire while directing the MK19 on targets by this time the enemy was driven totally back. As noted in the warrior ethos video the soldiers identified Lt McCormick as the key leader in this fight directing and commanding from the most exposed position on the battlefield, the small arms fire was said to sound like swarms of bees flying through the air and can be heard in eye witness accounts and videos of the battle.

Finally, CPT Peter Glass’ C Troop, 3-8 Cavalry arrived and replaced the gun trucks on the ramps with his M1 Abrams tanks which ended the enemy resistance after 45 minutes of fighting. 30 minutes after this fight, Lt McCormick and his crews were given a convoy security mission to the green zone after replenishing ammunition they escorted four convoys into the green zone back to back fighting through 3 complex ambushes not losing any US personnel or equipment but were credited with killing more than 20 enemy fighters, PFC Brian Noble the Zebra driver was wounded in the face by small arms fire and remained in the fight the entire day, for his heroism Noble was recommended for the Silver Star and never received any recognition for his actions.

Aftermath

Thirty minutes after having defeated the enemy attack, the crew of the Zebra fought through three more ambushes to escort convoys with critical ammunition to the Green Zone for the 1st Cavalry Division. All but one of the five crew members was wounded that weekend, but all remained with their gun truck. With other emergency convoys of fuel and ammunition, the 1st Cavalry Division was able to beat back the al Sadr April Uprising.

Twelve Bronze Star Medals and four Army Commendation Medals were awarded to truck drivers for this battle. McCormick was finally awarded the Silver Star Medal in 2014 after his original recommendation for the Distinguished Service Cross was lost and later downgraded at Army Human Resources Command even with his entire wartime and stateside chain of command recommended approval of the DSC. Lt McCormick was later recommended for an upgrade to the Medal of Honor in 2016 for his contribution in this battle and the three convoy ambushes immediately after that was not included in the original recommendation for the DSC. It is critical to note that McCormick had suffered two previous gun shot wounds in engagements just before this battle and also took a direct hit to his ballistic vest rendering his ceramic plate compromised from a 7.62x54R SVD Rifle shot that struck him just over his heart, that plate is on display in the WV Culture Center in Charleston WV.

The battle ranks as one of the greatest feats of heroism in the Iraq war of the US Army Transportation Corps.

Further reading

• Donald P. Wright; Timothy R. Reese (2008). The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom, May 2003-January 2005: On Point II: Transition to the New Campaign. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. ISBN 9780160872433.
• "Richard E. Killblane, Transportation Corps in Operation Iraqi Freedom 2, April Uprising" (PDF).
• Convoy Ambush Case Studies Vol. II, Iraq and Afghanistan Richard E. Killblane, US Army Transportation School, 2015