{"id":892,"date":"2019-01-02T19:55:25","date_gmt":"2019-01-03T02:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deamaltzchallenge.com\/?p=892"},"modified":"2019-01-03T19:44:22","modified_gmt":"2019-01-04T02:44:22","slug":"usmc-major-doug-zembiec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maltzchallenge.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/02\/usmc-major-doug-zembiec\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine Major Doug Zembiec"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Legendary Marine Maj. Zembiec, the \u2018Lion of Fallujah,\u2019 <\/h1>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.washingtonpost.com\/rf\/image_1484w\/2010-2019\/WashingtonPost\/2014\/07\/15\/National-Security\/Images\/Merlin_8579768.jpg?uuid=QF68zgxSEeSMmpI-zAx9Iw\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> Marine\n Maj. Douglas Zembiec, then a captain, in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. He \nearned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart during his deployment there. \n(Rick Loomis\/Los Angeles Times)       By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/people\/thomas-gibbons-neff\/\"> Thomas Gibbons-Neff<\/a>      July 15, 2014   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the foyer of the Central Intelligence Agency\u2019s headquarters, there is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/cias-memorial-wall-for-fallen-operatives-is-shaped-by-a-northern-virginia-stone-carver\/2014\/05\/22\/b59d8be2-df74-11e3-9743-bb9b59cde7b9_story.html\">a marble wall<\/a>\n covered in stars. They are carved divots that represent those who have \nfallen in the service of the CIA. Below them, jutting out from the \npolished rock, is a black book entombed in a case of glass and steel. \nThe book is a guide to the stars, giving the names of some of those who \ndied and withholding the names of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the pages of the \nCIA\u2019s Book of Honor are 111 hand-drawn stars organized by the years \nthose officers died. For 2007, there is a single, anonymous star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It belongs to Marine Maj. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2007\/05\/16\/AR2007051602860.html\">Douglas Alexander Zembiec<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Long\n thought to be an active-duty Marine when he was killed in Baghdad, \nZembiec was actually serving with the CIA\u2019s paramilitary arm. While the \nCIA would not comment on whether Zembiec worked for the agency, former \nU.S. intelligence officials said in interviews that he died in an alley \nin Sadr City on May 11, 2007, as a member of the Special Activities \nDivision\u2019s Ground Branch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\n was the final chapter in the life of a Marine known to many as the Lion\n of Fallujah but whose story, until now, has never been fully told. He \nis one of the few Americans to be simultaneously honored by the military\n and the CIA for his actions. But because he was working covertly, his \nrole was never acknowledged publicly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.washingtonpost.com\/rf\/image_480w\/2010-2019\/WashingtonPost\/2014\/07\/15\/National-Security\/Images\/Merlin_8623000.jpg?uuid=PGjwxgxSEeSMmpI-zAx9Iw\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> Zembiec\n was killed in Baghdad n 2007 while working for the CIA. He was buried \nat Arlington National Cemetery. (Michel duCille\/The Washington Post)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Family\n members and former intelligence officials say Zembiec was working with a\n small team of Iraqis on a \u201csnatch and grab\u201d operation targeting \ninsurgents for capture. Just moments after warning his men that an \nambush was imminent, he was shot in the head by an enemy insurgent; he \ndied instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the ensuing gun battle, the Iraqis serving \nbeside Zembiec radioed back, \u201cFive wounded, one martyred,\u201d according to \nbattle reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Top military commanders, including Gen. David H. \nPetraeus, lauded Zembiec\u2019s actions on the night he was killed, and the \nmilitary dedicated a helicopter landing zone to him at Camp Victory at \nBaghdad International Airport in 2008. It included a white sign with \nZembiec\u2019s name, his awards and the emblem of the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/tpc.googlesyndication.com\/safeframe\/1-0-31\/html\/container.html\" width=\"0\" height=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Markedly absent: the crest of the CIA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zembiec,\n who was 34, is credited with saving 25 men on the night of his death, \nand for his heroism, he was later awarded the Silver Star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe \nwas something else,\u201d his wife, Pam Zembiec, said in an interview at her \nhome in Maryland. \u201cSometimes I thought he was born in the wrong time, \nlike he should have been born with the Spartans.\u201d \u2018They fought like lions\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zembiec\n was a warrior, and an outspoken one at that, heralding a firefight \nduring the battle of Fallujah in 2004 as \u201cthe greatest day of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.washingtonpost.com\/rf\/image_480w\/2010-2019\/WashingtonPost\/2014\/07\/15\/National-Security\/Images\/PHO-07May17-74507.jpg?uuid=PrRdZgxSEeSMmpI-zAx9Iw\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> At\n her husband\u2019s funeral, Pam Zembiec clutches the flag that covered his \ncasket. She recently wrote a book about him. (Kevin Wolf\/AP)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among\n his Marines he was known for his humility and fearlessness. He was the \ncompany commander for Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, and \nduring the first battle of Fallujah he led from the front, rallying his \nmen and directing fire even after being wounded. His Purple Heart would \nbe one of 78 citations for the 139 Marines of Echo Company during that \ndeployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zembiec\n was also awarded the Bronze Star for valor for rushing into the middle \nof a machine-gun-raked street to get the attention of an Abrams tank \nsupporting Echo Company. Abrams are equipped with small radios on the \nrear to allow infantrymen to talk to the tank crew while behind the \nsafety of 60 tons of steel, but for what\u00adever reason the radio, or \n\u201cgrunt phone,\u201d wasn\u2019t working, so Zembiec scaled the tank while bullets \nricocheted off its hull.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After he knocked on one of the hatches \nrepeatedly, the crew of the tank finally opened up. Zembiec then loaded a\n magazine of illuminated tracer rounds and began shooting from the top \nof the tank to mark the building from which his Marines were being shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\n tank swung its turret and without warning fired its massive 120mm gun. \nThe blast threw Zembiec into the air and onto the street below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe\n deserved five Bronze Stars, not one,\u201d retired Sgt. Maj. Williams Skiles\n said. Skiles served as Zembiec\u2019s company first sergeant and right-hand \nman during the battle of Fallujah. In a going-away plaque given to \nSkiles, Zembiec called him \u201cthe metal-weld\u201d that kept the company \ntogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For all Zembiec\u2019s accolades, he was always more comfortable talking about his Marines\u2019 deeds rather than his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy\n men fought like lions and killed many insurgents. The valor and courage\n of the Marines was magnificent,\u201d Zembiec wrote in a letter to his wife \nduring the battle. \u201cThe Marines fought with such ferocity that any \nMarine who went before us would have been proud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was his frequent references to his Marines as lions that earned him the nickname the Lion of Fallujah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zembiec\n was born in Hawaii and raised in Albuquerque. His father, Donald \nZembiec, is a retired special agent for the FBI, and his mother, Jo Ann \nZembiec, once a third-grade teacher, now volunteers as the master \ngardener for the New Mexico Veterans\u2019 Memorial Rose Garden, as well as \nwith other veterans nonprofit groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/tpc.googlesyndication.com\/safeframe\/1-0-31\/html\/container.html\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zembiec\n attended the U.S. Naval Academy, where he quickly rose to prominence \nfor his prowess on the wrestling mat. He graduated in 1995 as an \nall-American athlete and Marine officer. Years later, Zembiec would \nsometimes return to the academy to teach the midshipmen on the wrestling\n team \u201ca thing or two.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His wife included his letters in her recently published book, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/147872935X?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creativeASIN=147872935X&amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;tag=thewaspos09-20\">\u201cSelfless Beyond Service: A Story About the Husband, Son and Father Behind the Lion of Fallujah.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe wrote those letters because he wanted his Marines to know how much he loved them,\u201d Pam said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And his Marines loved him back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shortly\n after Zembiec\u2019s return from Iraq, he and his father were driving \nseparately onto Camp Pendleton, in California. When his father pulled up\n to the gate, the Marine on duty looked into the vehicle and asked, \u201cAre\n you Captain Zembiec\u2019s father?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an interview at his home in New Mexico, Donald Zembiec said he nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI was with him in Fallujah,\u201d the Marine continued. \u201cAnd if we had to go back in there, I\u2019d follow him in with a spoon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After\n a short stint at the Marines\u2019 Special Operations Training Group at Camp\n Lejeune, N.C., in 2005, Douglas Zembiec decided to apply for a coveted \nslot in the Ground Branch of the CIA\u2019s Special Activities Division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The position is extremely competitive, and the CIA accepts only one Marine Special Operations officer every few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe\n went for this with all of his guts and glory,\u201d his wife said. \u201cI\u2019ve \nnever seen this man stressed in my life until he started interviewing \nfor this. He was pacing, and he couldn\u2019t sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His parents saw \nthe move to the CIA as a strategic one in order to stay in a \ncombat-related role and avoid a staff position, something most Marines \nof Zembiec\u2019s rank are forced into at a similar point in their careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/tpc.googlesyndication.com\/safeframe\/1-0-31\/html\/container.html\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe wanted to be at the tip of the spear,\u201d Jo Ann Zembiec said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He was accepted into the program and was sent to the agency from the Marines for a two-year assignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shortly\n afterward, he deployed to Afghanistan. His work with the CIA was the \nfirst experience Pam Zembiec had as a military spouse after they married\n in April 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe three months gone, three months back seemed \nlike a cake ride for me,\u201d Pam said, referring to the length of her \nhusband\u2019s deployments with the agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because of the secrecy of \nthe&nbsp;Ground Branch\u2019s operations, Zembiec rarely talked about the job, and\n Pam followed suit, letting the unknown form a layer of normalcy as she \nraised their newborn daughter, Fallyn, and their Labrador retriever, \nValhalla, outside Annapolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have been able to focus \non our life if I would have known,\u201d Pam said. \u201cBecause he didn\u2019t tell me\n anything, I never for a second worried about him. I never thought he \nwas in any kind of danger. He was smart, he knew what he was doing. He \nwas trained.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\n always expected someone to come to the door and tell me that Doug had \nbeen in a motorcycle accident,\u201d his mother said. \u201cI never thought he \nwould be killed in combat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In March 2007, Doug Zembiec volunteered to deploy again, this time to Iraq, where he was able to call Pam almost every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe\n last thing Doug said to me on the phone \u2014 I\u2019ll never forget it,\u201d Pam \nsaid. \u201c\u2009\u2018Wait a minute, wait a minute, I have to tell you something \nbefore I hang up. Babe, you should see what we\u2019re doing with the Iraqi \npeople and what we\u2019re doing to help them. Things are getting better over\n here.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe was elated; he was crazy about his job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That was the morning of May 11, 2007. \u2018I was very angry\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four\n people came to Pam\u2019s door that night. One of them was Col. John Ripley,\n a mentor to Doug Zembiec, a family friend and a Marine legend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen\n the guys came to tell me that night .\u2009.\u2009. I was very angry,\u201d Pam \nZembiec said. \u201cAt the time I wanted to blame someone, and I blamed [the \nfact] that he wasn\u2019t with his Marines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zembiec\u2019s job with the \nCIA meant that he was working with other Special Operations types and \nIraqis, not the Marines with whom he had fought during his earlier \ndeployment to Fallujah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI saw a lot of tough guys crying in that\n house,\u201d said Elliot Ackerman, a friend who was in Marine Special \nOperations training when Zembiec was killed. \u201cThey cried for Doug, but \nbecause of where we were in the war I think they cried for themselves, \ntoo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The last time Ackerman saw Zembiec was in the winter of \n2007; his friend had driven through the night from D.C. to North \nCarolina so they could do dive training together. They stayed up into \nthe early hours of the morning, catching up, until it was time to do the\n dive. Before they left, Ackerman offered Zembiec breakfast because he \nhadn\u2019t eaten in the past 12 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd all he wanted was a glass of milk,\u201d Ackerman said. \u201cA big glass of milk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\n took years for Pam\u2019s anger to subside; she felt she had been forced to \nremain silent about her husband\u2019s involvement \u2014 even as movies like \n\u201cZero Dark Thirty\u201d trumpeted the CIA\u2019s operation to kill Osama bin \nLaden. The film also referenced the Ground Branch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m kind of \nirritated: Why did I have to lie about Doug, and why he was killed, when\n the whole world knows about Ground Branch?\u201d his wife asked. \u201cIt\u2019s time \nto say, \u2018Hey, this is what he was doing when he was killed \u2014 he was in \ncharge of an elite group.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Todd Ebitz, a CIA spokesman, said, \n\u201cConsistent with long-standing practice, we do not comment on who may or\n may not have been honored anonymously with a star on the agency\u2019s \nMemorial Wall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Weeks after his death and his burial in Arlington\n National Cemetery, Pam and the rest of Doug Zembiec\u2019s family were \ninvited to a private ceremony in then-CIA Director Michael V. Hayden\u2019s \noffice on the seventh floor of headquarters in Langley. Hayden quietly \nthanked them for Zembiec\u2019s service. In attendance were some of the men \nwho were serving with him when he was killed, along with Shannon Spann, \nthe wife of Johnny Spann, a former Marine and the first American killed \nin Afghanistan, in November 2001. Spann, like Zembiec, was in the CIA\u2019s \nSpecial Activities Division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Later, the CIA\u2019s next director, Leon\n E. Panetta, presented Pam Zembiec with the anonymous star that was \nsubsequently chiseled into the Memorial Wall and inscribed into the Book\n of Honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, she has come to terms with her husband\u2019s death \nand her feelings toward the agency. She said she plans to return to CIA \nheadquarters in three years to mark the 10th anniversary of his death at\n his star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s nobody\u2019s fault,\u201d she said. \u201cDoug chose this \npath. He died doing what he loved, and he made a difference. And that\u2019s \nwhat matters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adam Goldman, Julie Tate and Greg Miller contributed to this report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <em>Editor\u2019s\n note: This story should have noted that Michael R. Gordon and Gen. \nBernard E. Trainor first reported in their book, \u201cThe Endgame: The \nInside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from George W. Bush to Barack \nObama,\u201d that Zembiec was working for the CIA when he was killed in \nBaghdad in 2007. Gordon, citing a classified summary of raids, also said\n in an e-mail to The Post that Zembiec was killed in Adhamiyah district,\n not Sadr City. <\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legendary Marine Maj. Zembiec, the \u2018Lion of Fallujah,\u2019 Marine Maj. Douglas Zembiec, then a captain, in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. He earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart during his deployment there. (Rick Loomis\/Los Angeles Times) By Thomas Gibbons-Neff July 15, 2014 In the foyer of the Central Intelligence Agency\u2019s headquarters, there is a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2019honorees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maltzchallenge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maltzchallenge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maltzchallenge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maltzchallenge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maltzchallenge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/maltzchallenge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":915,"href":"https:\/\/maltzchallenge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions\/915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maltzchallenge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maltzchallenge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maltzchallenge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}