Twenty years removed, battle still fresh in the minds of Buffalo-based Marines

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The men assigned to a decorated Buffalo-based battalion gathered this month in the warm sunshine in West Seneca, sharing laughs and embraces, stories and encouragement.

On Friday, they are 20 years removed from what unfolded in the city of Hit, in the middle of the Al Anbar province: a well-coordinated surprise attack by heavily armed insurgents and the Marines’ heroic response to it.

The summer of 2005 was growing increasingly hot, and not just because it was July in the Middle East. 

“That’s when the insurgency became what it was. It was increasing, IEDs were increasing,” said Gunnery Sergeant Tony Nigro. “Unfortunately, the battalion suffered heavy losses which is what prompted the Marine Corps to task Mike here and the additional 50 Marines to come out to bolster the, you know, the holes in the lack of manpower we had at that time.”

Nigro spent 22 years in the Marines and is now a member of the New York State Police. He and nearly seven-year veteran Tim Freundschuh were already in Hit when their officer, Mike Niezgoda, arrived with dozens of others to fill out the ranks. 

They spent the summer guarding the base, an assignment that held them back. 

“We were in a security posture at al-Asad,” said Sergeant Freundschuh. “And the frustrating thing for us was they had us almost in holding while all our brothers were out there getting wounded and getting killed. So, we were ready to get into the fight.”

Niezgoda arrived in the area of operations with a new direction and a new posture for his unit. They were going on offense. 

However, with just 11 days until their deployment came to an end, Niezgoda had orders for his men.

“Don’t get complacent. I want you to go home alive. Do your job, but you got ten more days of this and a wake up and then you’re out of here,” he said. “Unbeknownst to us, within the next couple of days, the insurgents in that area had planned this massive attack against India Company.”