An Ohio Reservist tells the gripping and heartfelt story of his deployment in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Taylor Cleveland, Tim Sielschott's brother-in-law, wrote a book entitled Mother's Day: The Courage & Sacrifice of the 3rd Battalion 25th Marines, the hardest-hit unit of the Iraq War. In 2005, Cleveland, a Navy Corpsman (medic), deployed to Iraq with a thousand fellow Reservists as part of 3/25, an Ohio-based Marine Reserve unit. After five months of relative quiet, enemy forces began launching attack after attack on the unit. By the time the battalion went home in November 2005, it had lost more men than any other single unit in the war. Forty-six Marines and two Navy corpsmen were killed in action during the unit's roughly nine-month activation. "Imagine going to war with your home town. And some of them not come back. And none of them coming back the same. The loss and devastation was tremendous." Taylor brought photos of his fellow Reservists and told their stories to a room that hung on his every word and gave him a standing ovation at the conclusion. Proceeds from Mother's Day go to Feed Our Veterans, an organization in Ashtabula County that provides foods to any veteran who needs it.
