Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:58 | It was all very hush hush. Sgt Major Billy Lee and his colonel were instructed to drive to a secluded mansion on a lake. Their Iraqi interpreter had to wait outside the compound while they were ushered in amid tight security. Their new assignment was to guard a very important prisoner, Saddam Hussein.
Keywords : Billy Lee Iraq National Guard Military Police (MP) Saddam Hussein Blackwater USA Baghdad
Billy Lee's father ran a logging operation in rural Alabama. During the war, there was a camp for German POW's nearby and they would work for him. This story caused the younger Lee to become a World War II buff and want to be a soldier from a young age.
For two decades, Billy Lee served in a National Guard MP Battalion. They were deployed for strikes, riots and storms and they went to Europe to train with the regular Army. He was starting to think about retiring.
After a long time in the National Guard, Billy Lee knew that the attacks on 9/11 meant that he may finally be deployed in a combat zone. When his MP Battalion was mobilized for Iraq, he was 55 years old and had just submitted his retirement papers. He tore them up.
In Iraq, the police didn't operate like they do in America. If they're looking for you, they'll just put your family in jail until you surrender. Billy Lee was with an MP Battalion from the states and it was their job to try and train the Iraqis in modern law enforcement.
With the help of Iran, Iraqi insurgents started using a new type of IED that was more powerful and could pierce armor. Billy Lee was part of an MP battalion that patrolled Iraqi highways, which was dangerous because they were perfect for ambushes.
Billy Lee really liked the interpreter he worked with in Iraq. The man was an engineer who had done work for Saddam Hussein. He was careful to do everything right because an entire family could suffer for the mistakes of the father.
It was a big mistake. MP Billy Lee says it was obvious during his Iraq deployment that disbanding all of the Iraqi military and police at the beginning of the conflict was having a terrible effect in the streets. Lawlessness was widespread.
He knew what had happened to veterans returning from Vietnam. Billy Lee was apprehensive about that but he was delighted when he found cheering crowds upon his return from Iraq.
What is best for the people there? For Billy Lee, who served in Iraq in an MP battalion and got to know the Iraqi people well, that should be the main concern in any conflict. He still remembers how proud they were to finally have a free election.
