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File: 082696_d50022_209.txt
Page: 209
Total Pages: 242

and a defense was established (vic QT 863352).

     By 0800, 27 February, organized resistance had ceased in
TF Papa Bear's zone.  The war from TF Papa Bear's perspective
was over.

     During the three day period of active combat operations
against Iraqi forces, Task Force Papa Bear advanced over one
hundred kilometers from its assembi~ area in Saudi Arabia to
the outskirts of Kuwat International Airport.   Highlights of
this rapidly unfolding attack were the assualt breach of two
Iraqi obstacle belts on 24 February; the repulse of a ~ajor
counterattack at the Al Burgan Oilfield on 25 February, which
involved elements of at least three Iraqi brigades; and the
conduct of a forty~kilometer mechanized attack on 26 February
which resulted in the isolation and control of Kuwait
International Airport.

     Task Force elements are credited with the destruction of
102 tanks, 41 APC's, and 62 other vehicles of various types and
descriptions.  Over sixteen~hundred Iraqi EPW's were captured
by the Task Force, while many others were bypassed ~r disarmed
and left to follow-on units to process.

     Lance Corporal Jaines Waldren of A Company, 7th Engineer
Support Battalion was the only Task Force Marine to be killed
in combat.  His death on the evening of 26 February in the last
major skirmish with Iraqi forces at Kuwait International
Airport, was a tragic loss deeply felt by his Marine comrades.
14 Marines received wounds from direct~combat with Iraqi
forces.

     The rapid advance and tactical successes which Task Force
Papa Bear enjoyed would not have been possible without the
untiring efforts of tI~e Marines and Sailors involved in the
combat service support arena.  The Task Force combat and field
logistics trains and CSSD-ll provided the life blood needed to
propel Papa Bear to the outskirts of Kuwait City.


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