This is a gripping first-hand account of the battle at Fallujah and the Marines who lived and died fighting for control. Patrick O'Donnell was the first embedded author to go into combat in Iraq with his unit, fighting side-by-side with the men of the 1st Platoon. They were the first unit into Fallujah - considered the most important battle in the war in Iraq - where civilians were used as human shields, suicide bombers approached from any street corner, and insurgents, high on injected adrenaline, fought to the death. The Marines of the 1st (and Patrick O'Donnell with them) saw the worst of it; by the end of the battle only 14 of the original 49 were left standing. In We Were One, O'Donnell captures not only the sights, sounds and smells of the battles, but the human drama of the young men from a close-knit platoon fighting and dying side-by-side.