As Veterans Day Approaches, we are honoring the brave men and women who have served our country.
Zack Iscol is a Marine who served in one of the most intense battles of the Iraq War. He now serves as the Commissioner of the New York City Emergency Management. On Monday, he will be honored during the Veterans Day Parade.
After fighting on the battlefields, Iscol is now on a new mission.
“The second battle of Fallujah, it feels like it was a minute ago. It also feels like a lifetime” he said.
November 7, 2004, was the day Iscol, fellow Marines and other soldiers entered the city of Fallujah. It would turn out to be the bloodiest battle involving U.S. Marines since the Vietnam War.
“In some ways, it’s like when you go over the Brooklyn Bridge and you walk over and you come down into the caverns of the city, that’s kind of what it felt like. Except people are shooting at you,” Iscol said.
The fighting lasted about two weeks.
“It was intense. You know, it was house to house, room to room. The enemy were building machine gun positions inside of houses,” Iscol adds, “There was about 4 to 5000 fighters. And they were there to die. You know, they wanted to die. They wanted to take as many Marines with them as possible.”