Six seconds. That is all the time there was between a speeding dump truck appearing in the alley and the explosion — six seconds to run, as the Iraqi police at the checkpoint did, or to stand. On the morning of April 22, 2008, at Joint Security Station Nasser in Ramadi, Iraq, two young Marines stood.
Two Marines who had just met
Cpl. Jonathan T. Yale, 21, of Burkeville, Virginia, was near the end of his tour with 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines. Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter, 19, of Sag Harbor, New York, was just beginning his with 1st Battalion, 9th Marines. The two had met only shortly before taking their post together at the entry gate, behind which more than 150 Marines and Iraqi police were stationed.
The truck came fast, weaving through the barriers, loaded with roughly 2,000 pounds of explosives. The Iraqi police opened fire and then ran for cover. Yale raised his M249 squad automatic weapon; Haerter raised his M16. Both men fired into the cab as the truck closed — closer, closer — until it stopped just feet from the gate and detonated. Both Marines were killed. The truck never made it inside. The men behind them lived.
The Navy Cross, and a general’s speech
Yale and Haerter were posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, the Department of the Navy’s highest valor award after the Medal of Honor. Their award citations credit them with saving the lives of more than 50 Marines and Iraqi policemen. Marine Gen. John Kelly later told their story in a speech — “Six Seconds to Live” — that is still read to Marines in training, recounting how an Iraqi witness said no sane man would have stood there and done what they did.
Security cameras recorded those six seconds. What the footage shows is not confusion or hesitation but a decision — made in less time than it takes to read this sentence — by a 19-year-old and a 21-year-old who had known each other only briefly, and who are now remembered together, permanently, as the two who didn’t run.
Sources: U.S. Marine Corps (2nd Marine Division) Navy Cross presentation and award summaries; DVIDS coverage of Cpl. Yale commemorations; HistoryNet, “Six Seconds of Courage.”
