The Wounded Warrior Battalion-West held a ceremony Nov. 12 to unveil a monument honoring servicemembers wounded during combat.

The sculpture is based on the Operation Phantom Fury photograph ‘Hell House’ of then 1st Sgt. Bradley Kasal being carried out of a house by two lance corporals after a firefight.

During the fight, Kasal sustained seven gunshot wounds and was peppered with shrapnel when he used his body to shield an injured younger Marine from a grenade blast.

John Phelps, the sculptor for the monument, is no stranger to combat. Phelps was a Vietnam veteran himself, and his son Chance was killed in Iraq in 2004.

“I express myself through my art, and this monument is a labor of love for me,” said Phelps. “The monument is an expression of my love, not just for my son but for my growing Marine Corps family.”

Christopher Marquez, one of the two lance corporals who carried Kasal out of the house, was present to unveil the sculpture, which stood at 10-feet tall and 13-feet wide. A similar monument was constructed at the Warrior Hope and Care Center aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., March 8, 2014.

“We went across, I guess you could call it a kill zone, and one by one we pulled out the people in the room and one of them happened to be Sgt. Maj. Kasal,” said Marquez.

November marks the 10th anniversary of Operation Phantom Fury, which is considered to be one of the heaviest and bloodiest instances of urban combat during the Iraq War.

“The monument is a symbol of camaraderie that’s important to Marines, not only in combat but in the healing process as well,” said Robin Kelleher, president of Hope for the Warriors, which contributed to constructing the monument. “There’s a saying, ‘Never leave a Marine behind’, and I think the monument exemplifies that. It gives wounded warriors hope, and hope is important for them to be able to recover.”

The WWBN provides recovery support to wounded, ill and injured Marines and Sailors and their family members in order to successfully return them to full duty or transition to civilian life.

“Our loyalty to each other as servicemembers does not end in combat,” said Lt. Col. Brian Dwyer, commanding officer, WWBN-W. “It continues throughout their recovery. Here at the Wounded Warrior Battalion, we take a holistic approach to helping them recover in all aspects of their life: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.”