major and only battalion-level engagement of the war which resulted in several dozen enemy killed in action and the destruction of Iraqi armor forces attempting to maneuver south against the Division. From the afternoon of 24 March until 1 April, the Battalion was attached to Regimental Combat Team 5. On 31 March, the Battalion attacked north as part of Regimental Combat Team 5 and secured the northern portion of Hantush Airfield. On 10 April, the Battalion was tasked to provide a headquarters and two companies to Task Force Tripoli. This ad hoc task force, composed of elements of 1st, 2nd and 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalions, as well as G/2/23 and TOW plt, 1st Tank Battalion, and commanded by the assistant Division commander, continued to attack north towards Tikrit. The remainder of Task Force Wolfpack, Companies B, E, and approximately half of H&S Company, as well as the Rear Command Post element, remained outside Baghdad conducting stabilization operations while attached to 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion. In its advance north towards Tikrit, the element of the Battalion attached to Task Force Tripoli made national headlines in the town of Samarra on 13 April when members of Company D rescued 7 American servicemen who had been taken prisoner earlier in the conflict. The rescued prisoners included two Army helicopter pilots and Shoshanna Johnson, a soldier from the same unit as Jessica Lynch. An image from this moment is captured in the "Operation Iraqi Freedom" mural on a building in 29 Palms. The Battalion reformed in Ad Diwaniyah on 21 April. By mid-June, the entire Battalion had redeployed to Twenty-nine Palms, with the last elements of the Division following in September. The Battalion suffered two non-combat deaths, no killed in action, and nine wounded in action during this deployment. Operation Iraqi Freedom II In November 2003, the Battalion was given a warning order to prepare to redeploy in August to Iraq in support of the Division's resumption of support and stability operations in Al Anbar Governorate. The Battalion was ordered to deploy in August 2004 for a seven-month period. 3rd LAR conducted a relief in place with 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion at Korean Village, west of the city of Ar Rutbah, and fell under Regimental Combat Team 7. During the early part of the deployment, Company D operated out of Al-Qa'im, north of the Euphrates River and along the Syrian border, while