Mystery ‘Marlboro Man’ Exudes Grit and Determination

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

His picture was plastered on newspaper covers yesterday. He had a profound effect on many who saw him. He may have become the new icon of the war in Iraq. But who is he?


The compelling photo captured the young Marine, with his face caked in dirt, and a bloody scratch running down his nose, taking a moment to smoke a Marlboro with a concerned look in his eyes as the battle for Fallujah raged.


The Marine, who some are calling the “new Marlboro man” because of his manly swagger and dangling cigarette, was never identified in the picture, taken by Los Angeles Times photographer Luis Sinco. Understandably, battle isn’t the best time to ask someone his name. But now we’re left with a nameless face as a haunting reminder of the sacrifices being made every day in Iraq.


The image “motivated the heck out of me all day,” said Major Jeffrey Dill, commanding officer of Recruiting Station New York, based in Garden City, L.I.


Major Dill said that the determined face of the Marine in the photo is no different than a picture taken of a Marine 60 years ago on the sands of Iwo Jima, or 30 years ago in the jungles of Vietnam. “He’s taking care of business,” he said.


Major Dill said that the photo was a fitting choice for newspaper covers yesterday, as Marines gathered for the 229th birthday of the Marine Corps to “think about those Marines who have gone before us.”


Lance Corporal Lucian Friel, a combat correspondent for the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune where the mystery Marine’s unit is based, said no one there could recognize him either. Maybe his unknown identity says something about how war changes people, or maybe it’s more poignant that he stands as a generic soldier, an everyman, lending his face to express the overall emotion in Fallujah.


As far as the Marines are concerned, the image is one that will stick with them for a while.


Even though he’s just a “young devil dog,” as Major Dill put it, the Marine has “the look of a seasoned combat veteran. He’s a professional, but he’s a hard-charger, too.”


“It’s really powerful to see your fellow Marine out there in the thick of things,” Lance Corporal Friel said. “You wish you were out there with them.”


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