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Soldier from Stryker brigade ‘fought with all he had’

May-14-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune

MOSUL, Iraq – 1st Sgt. Michael J. Bordelon came from a Cajun Coast community known for its swamp tours and antebellum homes.

And whether he was serving his country at Fort Lewis or in Mosul, Iraq, he was still every square inch a bubba from St. Mary Parish, La. – from his appetite for red beans and rice to the way he liked a good front-porch sitdown with his sergeants.

“One day I know we will be together, and I will see that crazy Cajun from Louisiana again,” said Lt. Col. Michael Kurilla, commander of the 1st Battalion 24th Infantry, better known around here as “Deuce Four.”

Bordelon’s life and his leadership of nearly 200 soldiers were remembered Friday evening in a darkened theater on Mosul’s largest U.S. Army base, just a few hours before a light rain and lightning storm blew through. [...]

Deuce Four has suffered more total casualties than any other Stryker battalion. It is sometimes referred to as “the tip of the spear,” and its counterinsurgency operations have taken it into some of the most lawless parts of Mosul west of the Tigris River. Bordelon’s company alone has had 38 soldiers wounded.

Carrothers, the chaplain, cited a biblical passage from the book of Isaiah that says, “The Lord will march out like a mighty man.”

He said people can know more of what God is like by looking at the mighty warriors of history, and he counted Bordelon among them.

“We see our lives in a new light because of you. We see our God in a new light because of you,” Carrothers said in closing.

“Godspeed, 1st Sgt. Bordelon.”

Another memorial

A memorial service for 1st Sgt. Michael J. Bordelon will be held Monday at 2:30 p.m. at the main post chapel at Fort Lewis.

He died Tuesday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio from combat injuries suffered April 23 in Mosul, Iraq.


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