On Monday 1st Dec 2003, 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 34th Armor was to conduct a combat patrol north of the town of Habbaniyah – platoon reconnaissance of Highway 1, west of the town of Fallujah, the mission being to clear the highway between Saqlawia and Ramadi- which was one of the many tasks assigned to the company and the platoon in the past few weeks.
The platoon consisted of four M1114 HMMWV’s in two sections, Section A (C31 and C32) and Section B (C33 and C34)
Uday was the gunner on HMMWV truck C32, and was the first vehicle in 3rd platoon followed by C31, C34 and C33.
The 1SG Stephen Krivitsky recalls, that before the platoon left around 0730 hours that morning, he saw Uday in the motor pool standing proudly in the hatch of his up-armored HUMMWV, and he gave him an article about the 4th Indian Division during the Second World War- and had thought it would be a great story for Uday to send back home. He goes on to say “He thanked me, placed it in his pocket, checked his weapons, and smiled at me, acknowledging he was ready to ride.”
The heavy trucks thundered to life and rolled out the gate on their way to another mission.
The platoon having made their way up north to Highway 1- from Camp Manhattan, by first crossing the River Euphrates at Khaldiyah and moving west, and then north along a canal running north south from the river to Highway 1-on reaching the highway the platoon moved east to Saqlawia (the eastern boundary) and then turned around, and were moving west towards Ramadi- after which they would return back to Camp along the same route by which they had come.
Incidentally over the past many weeks- the locals were very aware of the routes being taken by the platoons from Camp Manhattan, crossing the river while moving north towards the highway.
However, in a little less than an hour since leaving Camp on their mission, around 0845 hours-while conducting reconnaissance west along Highway 1 from the direction of Saqlaviya towards Ramadi, the platoon was ambushed with RPG and heavy small arms fire from dug-in positions to the south of the Highway and on the southern flank of the platoon.
Uday was the first to fire as the platoon reacted with heavy direct fire on the dug-in enemy.
Highway 1 had a large guard rail in the center separating the six lanes, three in each direction, and all that the platoon could do at that moment was to return fire and continue to move west as it was not possible to cross the guard rail- till an overpass ahead would allow the platoon to cross over and launch a counter attack on the enemy position from the west- and the plan was for Section A to stop west of the enemy position and provide support by fire while B Section moved South.
The enemy were in a large depression with sand berms all around them.
The Platoon Commander then actioned the platoon, however Section A instead of stopping west of the enemy position to provide fire support as Section B moved south and east, continued to move south and east towards a pump house approximately 500-600 meters south of the enemy position, which then perforce made Section B to maneuver to a better support by fire position to counter attack the enemy, and again Uday was the first to fire during these crucial moments when they had left the highway and were positioning themselves for a counter attack.
During this fire fight and while reestablishing contact, Uday’s .50 Cal. machine gun jammed, and his truck had to back into a covered position to fix the stoppage. After clearing the stoppage, the truck moved back into position where they again received small arms fire. As Uday returned lethal fire he was shot and severely wounded in the head at approximately 0943 hrs.
As Section B was moving to a better support by fire position, the platoon commander received a report from C32 that Uday had been shot and that the injury is very severe. The platoon commander then ordered Section A, truck C31 and C32 (Uday’s truck) to break contact, and move East and North towards the highway, with C31 giving support to provide first aid and simultaneously requested for MEDVAC.
While Section A was positioned again on the Highway- they provided first aid and also support by fire for Section B, which had also by now positioned itself on the Highway.
Uday was treated immediately by the combat medics.
The platoon commander recalls quickly moving to C32 to check on Uday, and found how critical he was he said a quick prayer for Uday. He then returned to his truck C34 to develop plans to continue with the counter attack.
At 1020 hours the air MEDVAC evacuated Uday to the nearest medical treatment facility.
Unfortunately, Uday’s wounds were simply too severe to save his life.
The battle would continue after the platoon was reinforced with other elements- ultimately capturing them from whom after interrogation a lot of information was gained leading to a substantial weapons cache.
The enemy this time was not the kind that was being encountered in earlier mission- these fighters were highly skilled and had tattoos with a symbol identifying them as Fedayeen.