MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- In December 2004, while people here were getting into the holiday spirit, the Marines of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were clearing houses and ducking bullets in Fallujah, Iraq.
Two of the battalion-s Marines and a sailor were recognized Friday when they were awarded Bronze Stars with Combat Distinguishing Devices in a ceremony at San Mateo.
Sgt. David A. Beckman, of Mesa, Ariz., was serving as a squad leader for 3/5-s Combined Anti-Armor Platoon when his squad was engaged by heavy machine-gun fire while clearing a house in Fallujah Dec. 11.
Beckman, who says memories of what happened that day are still a blur, led an assault up the stairs of the house when an insurgent "mounted a suicide charge" down the hallway, wounding one of Beckman-s Marines. Beckman then led his Marines up the stairs, successfully distracting the enemy and allowing one of his Marines to overwhelm and eliminate the enemy.
The enemy was not the only one wounded in this exchange of fire.
Beckman was met with a storm of fire as he rushed the insurgent, resulted in wounds to his face and hand.
"I thought I was dead when I got hit," said Beckman, 24. "I thought about my friends- family and (how) they would feel about losing me."
Beckman was not the only one thinking of his family when faced with a few close calls in Fallujah.
Seaman Benjamin I. Finnell thought of his wife, who at the time was nine months pregnant with their daughter in Escondido.
As the platoon-s "doc," Finnell, who also received the Bronze Star Friday, found himself in high need as 3/5-s Marines were being wounded during an intense firefight on Dec. 12.
Treating Marine after Marine, Finnell recovered the body of a mortally wounded Marine and dragged him to safety while taking continual sniper fire.
Finnell, who has also been injured during the firefight, treated several other Marines with gunshot wounds, all while under fire, before evacuating them to safety.
"All I could think about was getting to my patients," said Finnell, 26, who added he was just doing his job. "(Marines) say 'Doc!' and I run."
Finnell didn-t realized that he himself had been injured until things settled down when he noticed a piece of brick stuck in his boot that caused the wound for which he also received a Purple Heart at the ceremony.
"At the end of the day I thought 'Wow, today sucked,'" said Finnell. " I was grateful to be alive when some friends didn-t have that luxury."
The battalion-s third Bronze Star recipient, Cpl. Eddie H. Ray, 24, of San Antonio, said he put his faith in God and thoughts of his wife back home on Dec. 23, the day he and his platoon -- the 81 mm Mortar Platoon --found themselves trapped in an ambush.
During the ambush, Ray directed his platoon-s convoy of vehicles into strategic locations to provide cover positions and a casualty evacuation point for the Marines. He then seized an insurgent-held rooftop with his fire team, recovered two wounded Marines, then provided cover fire for Marines in the ongoing rescue effort inside a house.
"That section of the city was probably the most violent," Ray said.
All three men agree there-s no time to think in such situations.
"Thinking can get you killed," Ray said.