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In Frankfurt a long time ago. USAF Photo
USAF Photo
USAF Photo
The story below is from CNN. I have posted the text here in case their link dies in the future. The direct link to the story on CNN is here. This link has additional information regarding the individuals and some video.
This is from CNN:
Wednesday, April 16, 2003 Posted: 2302 GMT ( 7:02 AM HKT)
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (CNN) -- Seven U.S. soldiers held as Iraqi prisoners
of war left the Middle East and arrived in Germany late Wednesday for treatment
at a U.S. military hospital.
A U.S. Air Force C-141 cargo plane, specially adapted to carry injured
passengers, landed around 10:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. EDT) with 48 people aboard, 19
of whom suffer combat injuries. They were expected to be taken to Landstuhl
Regional Medical Center for treatment and counseling.
Six of the seven former prisoners walked swiftly off the plane, dressed in
desert fatigues, and shook the hand of the air base commander, U.S. Air Force
Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel. They waved to news media cameras, then boarded a bus.
The seventh former POW, Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson, 30, was carried off the
plane in a stretcher and lifted into the back of the bus. Lessel said a few
words to her, inaudible to the media, and she flashed a broad smile.
Watching Johnson's arrival on television was her friend Theresa Rowland, who
said they had spoken by phone Tuesday night. "She told me she could hardly wait
to see me," Rowland said. "She wants me to come see her as soon as I can."
Officials also loaded an acoustic guitar onto the bus; Chief Warrant Officer
Ronald Young Jr.'s mom said it belonged to her son. "I just bet they're too
excited to play," Kaye Young said with a laugh.
She added that -- in her most recent conversation with her son, 26, on Sunday
night -- he sounded good and was joking on the phone. "He told us that he had
lost 20 pounds and he just was very friendly, very affectionate, that he
couldn't wait to see us, that he loves us, he misses us," Young said.
Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, also a former POW, flashed a "V" sign with his hand as
the bus drove away.
Officials at Landstuhl said they are particularly concerned about Johnson, who
suffered bullet wounds in both feet. Officials said she may require further
surgery.
The seven former POWs had been resting and undergoing medical checks at an
undisclosed facility in Kuwait since arriving Sunday, shortly after their
rescue.
The POWs were accidentally discovered that day by a group of U.S. Marines sent
to Samarra, 75 miles north of Baghdad, to prevent traffic from interfering with
U.S. tanks headed to battle in Tikrit. An Iraqi policeman asked the Marines if
they had come for the prisoners, then led them to a nearby building where they
found the POWs guarded by at least one Iraqi soldier.
In addition to Miller and Johnson, five of those rescued were members of the
Army's 507th Maintenance Company: Sgt. James Riley, 31, Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23,
and Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21. Their convoy took a wrong turn and drove into an
ambush near Nasiriya on March 23.
Young and Chief Warrant Officer David Williams, 30, were captured March 24 when
their Apache helicopter was forced to make a hard landing in an area held by
Iraqi fighters.
This photo was submitted by Bob Pirolli. He got it from one of the crew members. The tail number was 66-7950.
In January of 2006, I got the following email from Col. Steven Doss, at Scott AFB
The bird that brought the PWs out of Iraq in was 66-7950. The photo above is of
six of the seven PWs standing in front of the Troop Oxygen Service Panel
shortly after they signed it.
At the time, I was the deployed commander of the 744th Expeditionary Airlift
Squadron (EAS), RAF Mildenhall, UK. The squadron was assigned to the 491 st Air
Expeditionary Group (AEG), same location. Also attached to the 491 AEG was the
791st Expeditionary Aeromedical Airlift Squadron (EAES), now located at
Ramstein AB, Germany.
In the Spring of 2003, nearly 800 personnel were assigned to the 491 AEG,
staging Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) and Air National Guard (ANG) C-141Cs
and their aircrew and aeromedical crews from RAF Mildenhall, UK, Rhein-Main and
Ramstein AB, Germany, NAS Sigonella, Sicily, and NAS Rota, Spain. At any given
time, 23 C-141Cs were in the European or Southwest Asian Theaters and at one
point, 18 C-141Cs were on the ground at RAF Mildenhall at the same time.
The 491 AEG group commander was Col James K. (Jim) Moran, then the 4th Air
Force Chief of Stan Eval. His deputy was Lt Col Kevin V. Lacy, then the
commander of the 729 th Airlift Squadron at March ARB, CA.
Immediately after 950 delivered the PWs to Ramstein, it de-positioned to
Mildenhall. By coincidence, the Hanoi Taxi (177) was also at Mildenhall, and
both aircraft were parked on the same spot. Parking was so tight at Mildenhall
that we parked two aircraft on each spot and towed them in and out for every
launch and recovery. The 171 st Air Refueling Wing (ARW), PA ANG, was also at
Mildenhall with 1,000 personnel, so space everywhere on base was at a premium.
It did not take us long to realize the historical significance of the parking
coincidence, so we ran out after sunrise and took pictures.
#169 Steven Doss
This shows 177 and 950 nose-to-nose and very close, with Col Moran, myself, and
Lt Col Lacy.
© Steven Doss
This is inside 950 in front of the O2 Service Panel, with the same suspects.
After the initial invasion of Iraq, AFRC C-141Cs became dedicated aeromedical
airlift platforms from Southwest Asia to Germany and the US from June 2003 to
September 2005. Crews and maintainers moved nearly 18,000 patients, more than
4,000 of them combat, 'urgent' evacuations. Aircraft dispatch reliability
soared to historically high levels, and the mission completion rate, using
spares and alert crews, was an unprecedented 99.2%.
STEVEN K. DOSS, Col, USAF