Marines from Camp Pendleton were among the first troops in Iraq

In 2003, Marines from Camp Pendleton were among the first conventional troops across “the line of departure” from Kuwait into Iraq.

In eight years of war, 345 Marines from Camp Pendleton and 115 from Twentynine Palms were killed in Iraq; only the Army’s Fort Hood  had more killed than Camp Pendleton, according to the independent website www.icasualties.org.

In 2009, the Marines turned over responsibility for Anbar province to the U.S. Army as the Marines’ attention turned to Afghanistan.

On Friday, President Obama announced that the remaining 39,000 U.S. troops in Iraq will be withdrawn by the end of the year.

A week ago, the final Camp Pendleton unit began preparations for leaving Iraq. Some 13 Marines had been training Iraqis in the southern city of Umm Qasr. The Marines from Iraqi Training Team 3 are set to return to Camp Pendleton with days.

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Photo: Members of the 1st Marines, 3rd Battallion of Camp Pendleton set up base at a corner in northeastern Baghdadin Sept. 2003. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times