24th ID Soldier Identified

Solider on Taro Leaf Cover Finally Identified

After seeking the name of the solider on the cover of the last issue’s Taro Leaf (Summer 2017) for several months, the mystery has finally been solved.

According to a Sgt. Delacruz, the solider featured on the cover is Lonnie Bailey, Bravo Co. 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment.

The photograph (shown above) was taken during the Persian Gulf War (1991) near Basrah, Iraq on March 3, 1991. The photo was taken on a causeway running through the Rumaylah Oilfields.

The Battle of Rumaylah, also known as the Battle of the Causeway or the Battle of the Junkyard, was an engagement that took place on March 2, 1991, in the Rumaylah oil fields in the Euphrates Valley of southern Iraq. The 24th Infantry Division, under Major General Barry McCaffrey, engaged a large column of retreating Iraqi Republican Guard armored forces during the immediate aftermath of the Gulf War.

​The Iraqi Republican Guard forces were engaged while attempting to reach and cross the Lake Hammar causeway and escape northward toward Baghdad on Highway 8. Most of the five-mile-long Iraqi caravan of several hundred vehicles was first boxed into a kill zone and then in the course of the next five hours systematically devastated by the U.S. 24th Infantry Division, including: its armored forces, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, and nine artillery battalions. At least six Hammurabi Republican Guard battalions were destroyed.[4]

---

Battle of Rumaylah Oil Field 1991 - Video

---

Battle of Rumaylah Oil Field 1991 - Text

Written Account ​by David S. Pierson
http://milmag.com/2011/02/battle-at-rumaila/

​Gain full access to all website content at 24thTaroLeaf.com by joining the 24th IDA.