In recent years, dozens of veterans and civilian Americans have left the comfort and safety of their homes to combat what they viewed as the unspeakable evil from the Middle East – Islamic State. A new television documentary series from History followed these Americans as they fought with Kurdish fighters in Syria. The show shows what the frontline battle is like in the fight against the world’s most ruthless terrorists.
You can watch Hunting ISIS on History every Tuesday at 11 p.m., but read on to find out how and why Americans fought the good fight long before their country was ready. “I heard the stories, I knew ISIS was evil,” says PJ, a Marine Corps veterinarian who served in Iraq. “But you can never understand the brutality they are capable of until you see it with your own eyes … Most people in America either can’t or won’t come here,” he says. “And for her I will wear what I can.”
The group, known by Americans as ISIS, gained global recognition in 2014 when it capitalized on the power vacuum in Iraq and Syria. The group managed to cover large parts of both countries. In Iraq, ISIS captured most of Fallujah, captured the provincial capital of Mosul and even approached the outskirts of Baghdad.
The IS terrorist state at the height of power in 2014.
(UnderstandingWar.org)
In Syria, ISIS occupied most of the eastern half of the country, starting from the group’s de facto capital, Raqqa. At the height of its power in 2014, the would-be terrorist state controlled the lives of around 10 million people. Most terrible about life under the control of ISIS were not only the restrictions on the personal freedoms of these 10 million people, but also the penalties for violating IS law, the executions of political prisoners and prisoners of war, and especially the genocides of “apostate” ethnic groups Yazidis.
Horrified by the ongoing violence, many American veterans of the Iraq war were inspired by the persistent resistance of the Kurdish Peshmerga, who fought to repel the dark tide of ISIS Islamic extremism. The Peshmerga have long been the most effective force in the region and a natural US ally against ISIS.
Long before that alliance was consolidated, and long before other regional powers like Iran and Russia decided to intervene in the two countries, some American veterans decided to travel to Iraq and fight this fight alongside the region’s only remaining position to join the terrorist supremacy. For them, they would fight the good fight and do what is right against the will of the US government and the military. They fight unpaid and not sanctioned. Worst of all, they face jail if they are caught by Americans – execution if caught by the enemy.
“This battlefield spoke to me personally that I had blood, sweat and tears on this sand,” says PJ. “How many of my brothers lost their lives fighting these bastards in Iraq? And now they are here from Raqqa to Mosul … we can stop this if we stick together. “
But Islamic State isn’t the only angry American who fought before their country was ready.
Members of the Lafayette Escadrille pose in front of their Nieuport fighters at the airfield in Verdun, France around 1917.
World War 1 – Lafayette Escadrille
The Lafayette Escadrille was named after the Marquis de Lafayette, a French general who contributed significantly to the success of the American Revolution year before the United States entered the war on the Entente side.
American volunteers Merian C. Cooper and Cedric Fauntleroy are fighting in the Polish Air Force. The Soviets gave Cooper a heavy bounty.
2nd Kosciuszko Squadron – Polish-Soviet War
For three years Poland fought against Soviet Russia for control of parts of eastern Poland and the Ukraine. American volunteers, wary of the spread of communism in the west, volunteered for the Polish Air Force against the Soviets with remarkable success – the Soviets put half a million rubles in the bounty of an aviator’s head. A Polish general said of the Americans:
“The American pilots, although exhausted, fight stubbornly. During the final offensive, their commander attacked enemy formations from behind, raining machine gun bullets on their heads. Without the help of the American pilots we would be done for a long time. “
Tom Mooney Company of the Lincoln Battalion. Jarama, Spain around 1937.
3rd Lincoln Battalion – Spanish Civil War
Fascism was the real enemy in Spain, where the loyalists of the democratic Second Spanish Republic fought the nationalism of Francisco Franco for three years before being defeated in 1939. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy were among the countries that officially supported the nationalists, while the Soviet Union supported the left-wing Republicans. Meanwhile, Britain and the US officially stayed out of the fighting.
Many, many volunteers from all over the world flocked to fight for the Republican Army in the International Brigades. The Americans joined the so-called Abraham Lincoln Brigades, an association of English-speaking British and American volunteers.
American pilots of the No. 71 ‘Eagle’ Squadron rush to their Hawker Hurricanes in Kirton-in-Lindsey in March 1941.
4. Eagle Squadrons – The Battle for England
The early days of World War II were dark days for the British. The danger of a Nazi invasion was great all over the island. We now know that they were relatively safe on the other side of the English Channel, but they hardly thought so at the time. But after the seeds were sown for our “special relationship” with the United Kingdom during World War I, many Americans evaded American neutrality to join the RAF and black-eye Jerry.
These men would join the RAF’s three Eagle Squadrons. The first was formed in September 1940 and fought with the British until their units were transferred to the US 8th Air Force in 1942.
5. The Flying Tigers – WWII China
A truly joint operation, the Flying Tigers were formed from a bold group of Army, Navy and Marine Corps Airmen and placed under the command of a retired American general in the Chinese Air Force. Three squadrons of 90 aircraft trained in Burma long before the United States entered World War II. So when their first combat mission arrived just 12 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, they were more than ready.
When the US came to retrieve them, they became part of the US Army’s 14th Air Force – the 23rd Fighter Group. The 23rd still flies shark-toothed planes on their A-10 fleet, a tribute to the P-40 Warhawks flown by the Flying Tigers.