On June 18, 2010, Marine Cpl. Clifford Wooldridge (3rd BN, 7th Mar) was in a convoy when their vehicles came under heavy enemy fire from a group of Taliban fighters in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
Spotting a group of 15 fighters, Wooldridge and his men dismounted and moved across open ground to flank the enemy, killing or wounding eight and forcing the remainder to scatter. Following the gunbattle, Wooldridge remained behind to cover his team’s withdrawal, but heard voices from behind an adjacent mud wall. Rushing around the corner, he came face-to-face with two enemy fighters, and opened fire at point blank range, killing both with his M249 SAW.
As he moved back behind the wall to reload, he spotted the barrel of an enemy machine gun poking around the corner. Without hesitating, Wooldridge dropped his empty weapon and seized the barrel of the enemy fighter’s machine gun. As the two grappled in hand-to-hand combat, the Taliban fighter reached for a grenade attached to Wooldridge’s flak jacket, intending to pull the pin and kill them both. Overpowering his attacker, Wooldridge took hold of the enemy’s weapon and then beat the man to death with it.
For his actions, Wooldridge was awarded the Navy Cross #skullfucker #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #semperkill