City of Death: Humanitarian Warriors in the Battle of Mosul

by Ephraim Mattos, Scott McEwen

Overview

A frontline witness account of the deadly urban combat of the Battle of Mosul told by former Navy SEAL and frontline combat medic Ephraim Mattos.

After leaving the US Navy SEAL teams in spring of 2017, Ephraim Mattos, age twenty-four, flew to Iraq to join a small group of volunteer humanitarians known as the Free Burma Rangers, who were working on the frontlines of the war on ISIS.

Until being shot by ISIS on a suicidal rescue mission, Mattos witnessed unexplainable acts of courage and sacrifice by the Free Burma Rangers, who, while under heavy machine gun and mortar fire, assaulted across ISIS minefields, used themselves as human shields, and sprinted down ISIS-infested streets-all to retrieve wounded civilians.

In City of Death: Humanitarian Warriors in the Battle of Mosul, Mattos recounts in vivid detail what he saw and felt while he and the other Free Burma Rangers evacuated the wounded, conducted rescue missions, and at times fought shoulder-to-shoulder with the Iraqi Army against ISIS. Filled with raw and emotional descriptions of what it's like to come face-to-face with death, this is the harrowing and uplifting true story of a small group of men who risked everything to save the lives of the Iraqi people and who followed the credence, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

As the coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestselling American Sniper, Scott McEwen has teamed up with Mattos to help share an unforgettable tale of an American warrior turned humanitarian forced to fight his way into and out of a Hell on Earth created by ISIS.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781546081821
Publisher:	Center Street
Publication date:	10/23/2018
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	141,163
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 4.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Ephraim Mattos is the East Asia Operations Manager for White Mountain Research and is the Founder and CEO of the Fireside Journal. He grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and went on to serve in the armed forces as a US Navy SEAL.

Scott McEwen is the author and co-author of several fiction and non-fiction books including the #1 New York Times bestselling American Sniper.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

Chapter 1 I Respectfully Disagree 4

Chapter 2 Mental Toughness 15

Chapter 3 Hate 21

Chapter 4 Free Burma Rangers 36

Chapter 5 Into Iraq 48

Chapter 6 April Fool's Day 59

Chapter 7 The Assault on Gharbaluh 71

Chapter 8 The Calm before the Storm 87

Chapter 9 The First Nazaheen 105

Chapter 10 Pinned Down 116

Chapter 11 The Girl in the Yellow Dress 128

Chapter 12 To the Death 139

Chapter 13 Caught in the Crossfire 155

Chapter 14 Rain, Bullets, Tears, and a Tank 168

Chapter 15 From the Ashes 183

Chapter 16 The Breaking Point 197

Chapter 17 Screams in the Desert 203

Chapter 18 Welcome Back to Mosul 218

Chapter 19 Family Life 231

Chapter 20 Into the Darkness 240

Chapter 21 The Rescue (Part One) 255

Chapter 22 The Rescue (Part Two) 264

Chapter 23 Peshmerga 275

Epilogue 280

Aftermath 287

About the Authors 291

Editorial Reviews

"In combat it's not about the number of lives you take, it's about the number of lives you save. Ephraim did not only fight the toughest terrorists in the world during the Battle of Mosul, but he also saved numerous innocent Iraqi lives. He is the true definition of an American freedom fighter."—Hamody Jasim, Sgt. Major Iraqi Army (Ret.) and author of The Terrorist Whisperer

"Ephraim Mattos has demonstrated a rare level of public virtue and commitment to humanity. CITY OF DEATH is a sobering reminder of the challenges we face on this earth, but stories like Ephraim's inspire us to press on. Books detailing the lives of Special Forces heroes are not uncommon these days. However, Ephraim's unique story of combat and sacrifice AFTER leaving the military will leave a lasting impression on the reader."—Tim Ballard, Founder & CEO of Operation Underground Railroad

"Ephraim's story is a taut real-life thriller. His vivid and brilliantly reported account of events on the front-lines gives the reader a real dose of reality. He has a unique way of storytelling that makes this book a page-turner."—Rudolph Atallah, Lt Colonel (Ret), Former Africa Counter-terrorism Director, Office of the Secretary of Defense

From the Publisher