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War Never Ends
Getting to know the men of Whiskey Six—and the loved
ones they left behind.
By Phil Zabriskie
Posted Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008, at 4:39 PM ET
In my youth, I knew Nov. 11 as my sister's birthday. As
I aged, I learned that it was also Veterans Day. Now,
having spent time with American soldiers in Iraq,
Afghanistan, and the Philippines—and time elsewhere with
soldiers from other nations—I think I have a much better
understanding of what the day is designed to
commemorate.
For the last three years, I've found myself looking past
Veterans Day, to Nov. 15, which is now a more
significant date on my personal calendar than many
officially recognized holidays. It's only b y a quirk of
fate that the day means anything to me, but that quirk
of fate had a lasting impact on me, and far more so on
four different families.
I need to back up a little. In October 2004, I was
halfway through my second stint with
Time magazine's
Baghdad bureau. Conditions in
Iraq
were rapidly deteriorating. Mobility was limited,
reporting increasingly dangerous. And in several places,
working as an embedded reporter almost certainly meant
coming under fire.
Ramadi was one of those places. Some military men
considered it more dangerous than Fallujah, but, at that
point, it still seemed like a good idea to spend time
there with the 2nd Battalion, 5th
Marine Regiment, one of the outfits trying to keep the
city from spiraling completely out of control. By
chance, I was briefly billeted with the 2/5's Whiskey
Company, which was charged with, among other things,
patrolling the main thoroughfare, known as Route
Michigan,
which almost guaranteed they'd get attacked. A week
later, I returned for a few days to report on Ramadi and
on combat stress among front-line soldiers.
During that second visit, I mainly rode in company
commander Capt. Pat Rapicault's Humvee, a vehicle with
the call sign Whiskey Six. I'd initially thought
Rapicault—"Frenchy" to his men—was Cajun, but I later
learned he'd grown up in Martinique and France before
attending high school and college in Mississippi and
enlisting. He was joined by Cpl. Marc Ryan, a
steely-eyed South Jersey native; Cpl. Lance Thompson,
who hailed from Indiana farm country; and Lance Cpl. Ben
Nelson, a Californian.
Late one night, Whiskey Company rode out to support
other Marines. I sat behind Ryan, who drove. Rapicault
was behind Thompson, who manned the radio, and Nelson
was in the gunner's hole. "We'll probably get hit," Ryan
said. He'd know, I thought; he'd already served a
bruising tour in Ramadi with the 2/4 Marines, then he
re-upped and came back after spending only two weeks at
home.
Indeed, he was right. Whiskey Company was ambushed twice
that night. Whiskey Six was very nearly disabled by
roadside bombs that detonated a few feet from the front
tires. The wheels were flattened, the windshield
spider-webbed and covered with engine oil. When
Rapicault bellowed at Ryan to get moving, Nelson had to
shout down directions so he could steer to safety.
Now I see that night as the most frightening experience
I've ever had. Then, it was part of my job—and even more
so, part of theirs. At the end of the month, my stint in
Iraq
ended. The battle for Fallujah commenced. Fighting
continued in Ramadi. And on Nov. 15, I learned from the
newspaper the next day, a suicide car bomber rammed
Whiskey Six, killing Patrick Rapicault, 34; Marc Ryan,
25; and Lance Thompson, 21. Ben Nelson was seriously
wounded but survived.
I didn't know them well, but they may have saved my
life. I happened to be in New York visiting my parents,
so I went to Ryan's funeral in Gloucester City, N.J.
Later, I met Rapicault's older sister, Christine
Cappallino, who lived in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The next
year, on Nov. 15, I joined the Ryans for a memorial they
held at a local bar. Two years later, I visited Lance
Thompson's family, the Rapicaults, and Ben Nelson,
thinking I'd write about how they were handling their
losses.
They were wary but welcoming, still mourning but
generous. I think they felt
the
stories I'd written for
Time
about Ramadi gave them a window into what life "over
there" was like for their sons and helped memorialize
them in some way. They, in turn, gave me a window into
their lives and the steps they were taking to protect
and maintain the memories of those they'd lost—the
gatherings, the T-shirts, the stickers and photo books,
and the scholarship funds. I saw Gloucester City High
pull out a stunning
last-minute victory on the day they retired
Marc Ryan's jersey. I saw how Lance's brothers, Matthew
and Philip, his cousin Casey, and his mother, Melanie
Smith, had all
gotten the same tattoo Lance had on his
wrist—the Chinese characters for
gung-ho.
And I saw that the Rapicaults, who had moved to a
planned community in central Florida in the 1990s to be
nearer to Patrick, were doing their mourning in
isolation. Their English was shaky, leaving them largely
unable to plug into the networks the Ryans and Thompsons
had at their disposal. Cappallino had moved from New
York to Florida to help out her father and stepmother
(then 91 and 74, respectively), but she was finding it
hard to adjust to the new surroundings. More to the
point, they were heartbroken about Patrick, as was Vera
Rapicault, his widow, who had moved to Oregon.
Ben Nelson had improved dramatically and was working
again—as a radio dispatcher for the
Plaster
County's sheriff's office—but he still felt the effects
of his injuries. The explosion had collapsed his lungs
and severely burned his hands, neck, and face. Shrapnel
had pierced his back, shattered his jaw, split his
tongue, and broken seven teeth. His back and knee were
badly bruised, likely from landing after the blast
pressure popped him out of the turret into the air,
which saved his life.
There had been hard times, a few ups—especially the
birth of a daughter, Kaitlyn—and a lot of downs. His
father and friends helped out as they could, but in the
main, his greatest asset was his preternaturally poised
wife, Emily. She was 21 when she got the call telling
her Ben was wounded. "She grew up fast," a friend of
hers told me. "She's everything to me," Nelson said last
winter.
Time couldn't run the story I wrote, which was
immensely frustrating for me and, I imagine, for the
families as well. But they were extremely gracious about
it. Melanie Smith and Linda Ryan took to comforting me
about it; they told me that it was meeting each other
that really counted. Our connection wasn't much when
measured temporally, and I daresay we had different
opinions about the war itself, but I found myself
opening up to them in ways I almost never do with people
I write about.
A lot of people spent more time and faced more harrowing
situations in Iraq than I did, but I think I've learned
a few things about war through my various experiences in
conflict zones. The biggest, I'd say, is that it doesn't
really end. It marks the people who experience it, and
it marks their families, too. "It's not what happens to
you; it's how you deal with," Ben Nelson's father told
him at one of his low points. And that's true,
particularly, I think, with mourning. It doesn't go
away, but if you can make some peace with whatever
happened—whether it's by saying someone died doing
something they loved or performing certain rituals or
finding others who know the feelings involved—it gets a
little easier to meet the days ahead.
Last year, on Nov. 15, Melanie Smith laid four roses at
Lance's gravesite in Indianapolis' Crown Hill cemetery,
red ones for Lance, Marc Ryan, and Pat Rapicault and a
white one for Ben Nelson. "I notice [the anniversary],"
Nelson said last year when I asked about it, but "I miss
them just as much every other day."
I don't know exactly what I'll do this Nov. 15, but it's
already been on my mind for a while, and I'm sure it
will remain that way.
Formerly a staff writer for
Time
magazine based in Asia, Phil Zabriskie now lives in New
York. He has written for
National Geographic,
National Geographic Adventure,
New York Magazine,
and others.
Widow
says her Marine husband was 'fearless'
Source:
NCTimes.com, November 18, 2004
(http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/11/19/military/14_19_4211_18_04.txt)
By:
Teri Figueroa
Captain. Patrick Rapicault was born a French citizen. He
died an American. The 34-year-old Marine Corps officer,
a Carlsbad resident, was among Camp Pendleton-based
Marines killed in enemy fighting in Iraq this week.
Military officials said Rapicault, the commanding
officer of his unit, died Monday in Ramadi, which is in
the Al-Anbar province.
On
Thursday, Rapicault's widow, Vera Rapicault, tried to
remain strong in the face of his death—"he's in heaven,
telling me to," she said. She said the Marine Corps told
her he died in a suicide bombing attack. Two other
Marines died with him, she said.
The
widow last spoke to her husband when his phone call woke
her at 12:04 a.m. on Monday. "He said, 'I was thinking
about you and I love you with all my heart,' " she said.
The
Marines, she said, told her that her husband died at
about 6:45 am
Pacific Standard Time—just hours after the couple's last
conversation. "He said, 'I would love to come home and
see you, but I am satisfied and happy with what I am
doing.' I am at peace with that,' " Vera Rapicault said
of their last exchange, a hurried phone call.
Patrick Rapicault was born in France, and came as a
foreign exchange student to the United States—to
Mississippi, to be exact, and his use of the
colloquialism "y'all" always came with his thick French
accent. The young immigrant later attended college
there, earning a degree in business.
But
his heart was with the military, his wife said, and he
joined the Marines. At about 25, Patrick Rapicault
became an American citizen, and was thus able to pursue
his dream of becoming an officer.
Vera
Rapicault, a 1984 Vista High School graduate, met her
"gorgeous" husband-to-be at a barbecue six years ago.
After an engagement capped by their wedding at St.
Anne's Episcopal Church in Oceanside—in his dress blues
that day, "he was more pretty than me," Vera Rapicault
said—the couple was sent to the East Coast. They
eventually worked their way back to North County and
bought a Carlsbad condo earlier this year.
Patrick Rapicault was "gung-ho" about the military, and
about his deployment to Iraq, she said. "He ate, drank
and slept the military," she said. "He was the kind of
man who wanted to be in the military, the kind of man
you would want to be out there (in Iraq)." She said her
husband had been in Iraq once before, and was injured
with second degree burns in a bombing.
Vera
Rapicault said Thursday that when he died, her husband
was the commanding officer of his unit's weapons company
in the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.
In a
story written a few weeks ago, a military publication on
the Marine Corps Web site referred to Rapicault as the
commanding officer of his unit's Weapons Company.
However, information provided by Camp Pendleton this
week stated that Rapicault was the assistant operations
officer. Pendleton officials said it was possible that
Rapicault had become the commanding officer.
Vera
Rapicault is planning her husband's memorial, which she
said she hopes will be next week at the same Oceanside
church in which they married. He will be buried on Nov.
30 in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Patrick Rapicault was an honest man, she said, and a
tough guy with a big heart, one who saw the Marines he
led as "his boys."
"I've never known anyone quite like him," she said, "and
I don't think I ever will again. ... I loved knowing he
loved me."
The
sting of his death is still fresh, but Vera Rapicault
holds tight to her knowledge that the man she calls her
hero died doing what he believed in.
"Even though I knew he loved me and loved life, he was
willing to put down his life for our country," she said.
"It puts him in a totally different category. ... He was
fearless."
Marine's Loyalty to
Troops Recalled
Source:
Washington Post,
December 1, 2004
By
Lila Arzua
The
photograph of Captain Patrick Marc M. Rapicault appeared
to be looking over the crowd of mourners gathered at the
Old Post Chapel at Arlington National Cemetery
yesterday. There he was with his dark hair cropped
short, medals glistening against his chest, gaze as
solid and determined as ever. Nearby, his body lay in a
flag-draped coffin.
More
than 100 family, friends and fellow service members had
gathered to mourn the 34-year-old Marine who lost his
life in Iraq. Rapicault, of St. Augustine, Fla., was
killed November 15, 2004, in Anbar province. He was the
97th service member killed in Iraq to be buried at
Arlington.
Rapicault was assistant operations officer for the 2nd
Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st
Marine Expeditionary Force. He had been quoted in
numerous news accounts and stories about the war in Iraq
and the troops' experiences.
"You
have to get over your feelings and keep on pushing, just
for the simple reason that you have another 170 Marines
to take care of and make sure they come back," he told
Time
magazine shortly before his death.
He
was interviewed for an October 25, 2004, article on the
war that recounted Rapicault's role as commander of
Whiskey Platoon, leading his men on a counterinsurgency
mission prior to the start of major fighting in Fallujah.
According to the
Time article, Rapicault's Humvee was struck by
mortar fire and disabled during the patrol. It was the
sixth time he had been hit, the article said. None of
his men were killed in that attack, but Rapicault was
prepared to give his life for his country. "It is a
daily hit and run," Rapicault later told Agence France-Presse.
Yesterday, a letter from a CBS correspondent who had
covered him was read aloud to the mourners. A friend and
fellow serviceman recalled his "bone-crushing handshake"
and his loyalty to those he loved.
Rapicault had been awarded the Purple Heart, the Navy
and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine
Corps Achievement Medal, Marine Corps Good Conduct
Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and National
Defense Service Medal.
He
was born on the island of Martinique and moved to the
French Riviera at age 5. He immigrated to the United
States as a teenager. It was during his high school
years in Mississippi that he developed his distinctive
accent—part French and part southern, according to one
of the speakers at the service. But "Frenchy," as he was
known to many, was proud of his mastery of English as a
second language, and especially of a writing award he
won.
Rapicault attended Delta State University in Mississippi
and joined the Marine Corps Reserve. Upon graduating
with a bachelor of science degree in business
management, he converted to active duty. In 1997, he
completed Officer Candidate School and reported to Camp
Pendleton in California. The following year, he
graduated first in his class from Army Ranger School.
At
his grave yesterday, a Marine band played the hymn
"Eternal Father Strong to Save." Captain Daniel Hench
presented a U.S. flag to Rapicault's wife, Vera, and
Staff Sergeant Charles Dorsey presented another to his
mother, Nicole Rapicault.
In
addition to his wife and mother, Rapicault is survived
by his father, Gabriel Rapicault, and a sister,
Christine Cappillino.
Marine officer
posthumously receives Silver Star
Source: Marine
Corps News,
Dec. 2, 2005
(http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/7C18C21FE5B72E27852570CC0005EFC5?opendocument)
By
Lance Cpl. Ray Lewis, MCB Camp Pendleton
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Dec. 2, 2005)
-- “ He led from the front,” said 2nd Battalion, 5th
Marine Regiment Bn. commander Lt. Col. Craig S.
Kaczynski during Capt. Patrick M. Rapicault’s Silver
Star ceremony Dec. 2.
Rapicault assumed command of Weapons Company, 2nd Bn.
5th Marines during his deployment to Iraq while they
were in contact with the enemy on 24 September 2004. As
company commander, Rapicault led his Marines through 50
firefights and 27 improvised explosive device ambushes
between the time he took command of the unit and until
he was killed Nov. 15, 2004.
For his gallantry, Rapicault was posthumously awarded
the Silver Star, the nation’s third highest award for
combat valor. His wife, Vera Rapicault, accepted the
award on his behalf during the ceremony at 5th Marines
memorial park located in Camp San Mateo.
According to the citation, he directed the fire and
maneuver of his company with complete disregard to his
own personal safety. Despite being the first Marine
wounded in his Battalion and his company suffering the
heaviest casualties during the street fighting, Captain
Rapicault always displayed an infectious enthusiasm that
motivated every Marine to fight hard and recover quickly
from battle.
On
every mission, Captain Rapicault’s intuitive and calm
combat leadership ensured success on the battlefield,
which limited damage to vehicles and friendly
casualties.
Also according to the citation, He gallantly gave his
life in the cause of freedom.
“I was 200 meters away when he passed. It was hard
because he was ‘that man’,” remembered 1st Lt. Shawn M.
Maurer, an infantry officer who served with Rapicault in
Iraq. “My fondest memory of him was his courage, you
could see it in his eyes. I could look in his eyes and
everything was going to be okay because he was the best
Marine Corps officer I’ve ever served with,” Maurer
said.
Rapicault’s heroics not only affected his Marines but
also reached Marines throughout the 1st Marine Division.
First Marine Division commanding general Maj. Gen.
Richard F. Natonski said “We were blessed not only as a
country and Marine Corps, but also as 1st Marine
Division to have a leader like Capt. Rapicault” during
the humble ceremony.
Natonski said Rapicault would never be forgotten. “He is
as alive today as the day he died,” said Lt. Col.
Randall P. Newman, former commanding officer of 2nd Bn.,
5th Marines. “He is truly the backbone of what the corps
is today. His memory goes on forever.”
Marine captain — killed
in Iraq — featured in ‘60 Minutes’ report
Rapicault was featured in a report
about U.S. Marines fighting in Ramdi, Iraq, that aired
on the "60 Minutes" news show on CBS on Jan. 16, 2005.
Read a transcript of the report at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/16/60minutes/main667271.shtml
Other Links:
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/pmmrapicault.htm
http://www.militarycity.com/valor/508991.html
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/11/19/military/14_19_4211_18_04.txt
http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/press-release/2665/
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/7C18C21FE5B72E27852570CC0005EFC5?opendocument
http://www.navynews.co.uk/articles/2002/0211/0002110702.asp |
