Early on the morning of March 21, McLaughlin's battalion crossed the border from Kuwait into southeastern Iraq. A ditch about half a mile wide and 300 feet deep, with dirt walls on either side, separated the two nations, he recalls.

In the subsequent days as they rolled toward Baghdad, the Marines encountered harsh desert sandstorms, like this one north of Nasiriyah, around March 25.

Warning: Some images in this slideshow are graphic.

Tim McLaughlin

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