Please Pray for Our Missing Hero's 

POW/MIA

* Still Missing

** Prisoner of War

# Found

NAME	UNIT	COUNTRY	DETAILS
* Army Sgt. Edward J. Anguiano	3rd Combat Support Battalion		Went missing after his convoy was ambushed in Iraq on March 23, 2003
# Pfc. Tamario D. Burkett	1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment		Went missing engaged in operations on the outskirts of Nasiriya on March 23, 2003
# Cpl. Kemaphoom A. Chanawong- se	1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment		Went missing engaged in operations on the outskirts of Nasiriya on March 23, 2003
# Lance Cpl. Donald J. Cline Jr.	1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment		Went missing engaged in operations on the outskirts of Nasiriya on March 23, 2003
# Pvt. Jonathan L. Gifford	1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment		Went missing engaged in operations on the outskirts of Nasiriya on March 23, 2003
# Spc. Edgar Hernandez	507th Maintenance Company		Captured in an Iraqi ambush at Nasiriya on March 23, 2003
# Spc. Joseph Hudson	507th Maintenance Company		Captured in an Iraqi ambush at Nasiriya on March 23, 2003
# Pvt. Nolen R. Hutchings	1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment		Went missing engaged in operations on the outskirts of Nasiriya on March 23, 2003
# Spc. Shoshana Johnson	507th Maintenance Company		Captured in an Iraqi ambush at Nasiriya on March 23, 2003
# Pfc. Jessica Lynch	507th Maintenance Company		Was missing after an Iraqi ambush at Nasiriya on March 23, 2003. Rescued April 2, 2003, by U.S. troops from Saddam Hospital in Nasiriya
# Pfc. Patrick Miller	507th Maintenance Company		Captured in an Iraqi ambush at Nasiriya on March 23, 2003
# Sgt. Fernando Padilla- Ramirez	Marine Wing Support Squadron-371, Marine Wing Support Group-37		Went missing conducting convoy operations in the vicinity of Al Nasiriyah on March 28, 2003
# Sgt. James Riley	507th Maintenance Company		Captured in an Iraqi ambush at Nasiriya on March 23, 2003
# Chief Warrant Officer David S. Williams	1st Battalion of the 227th Aviation Regiment		Captured during helicopter action near Karbala on March 24, 2003
# Chief Warrant Officer Ronald D. Young	1st Battalion of the 227th Aviation Regiment		Captured during helicopter action near Karbala on March 24, 2003

* Still Missing

** Prisoner of War

# Found

There Are Still 1 Missing

They Need Our Prayers

And Also There Family's.

Thank God , She Is Home

Please Sign Pfc. Jessica Lynchs Guestbook.

http://www.theguestbook.com/vgbook/553108.gbook

Seven Missing U.S. Troops Found Healthy
April 13, 2003

From CNN.com
CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar - U.S. Marines have found seven missing U.S. troops on the road between Baghdad and Tikrit, and they appear to be healthy, Gen. Tommy Franks said Sunday.

An Iraqi tipped off the Marines who were near Samarra and were closing in on Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, that they would shortly "come in contact with a number of Americans," Franks told Fox News

"I believe our guys picked them up on the road," he said.

"I know they're in good shape and I know they're in our hands and under our control now," he told CNN.

Franks said he had been reluctant to release the information because he was unsure whether the group was among five listed as missing or seven listed as POWs.

Franks originally said six were found. Central Command later that seven American servicemen were safe.

Bob Franken of CNN, who was with the Marine 24th Expeditionary Unit that found the POWs, said they were brought to an airfield in ambulances and all ran or walked to a C-130 transport plane.

Two of the POWs walked with a limp and one of those was a woman, Franken said.

One of the seven raised his hand in victory, and the woman was carrying her own equipment, he said.

Pentagon officials have committed to tracking down 12 soldiers still missing or captured since the spectacular rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch on April 1, but until Franks' revelation, there appeared to be no leads.

Franks said he was reluctant to discuss the matter further until he had better information - but he made sure to underscore once again his commitment to rescuing coalition captives.

"For sure we're going to take care of our own," he told CNN. "This is very good news."

Families of U.S. POWs reacted to the news Sunday with optimism.

"Either way, it's good news," said Ron Young Sr., whose son, Chief Warrant Officer Ronald D. Young Jr., was listed as a POW after his helicopter was forced down March 23. "It gives me hope, it really does," he said.

The sister-in-law of Army Spc. Joseph Hudson, a 23-year-old POW who was among the 507th Maintenance Company soldiers shown on Iraqi TV, was optimistic Sunday when she heard some of the troops had been freed.

"I hope it's Joe," Bethany Hudson said.

Officials had been sounding an upbeat note in recent days, saying more people were willing to talk and share secrets about potential POW sightings now that Saddam Hussein's henchmen are gone.

"What we're finding now is that the regime has been moved away, people will speak about what it is they know," U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks at U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar said Saturday during a briefing. "And so, we suspect that much of the information that will assist us either in finding prisoners of war from this conflict or previous conflicts ... will come by way of the elimination of the regime."

Lynch, who was rescued April 1 from a hospital in the southern city of Nasiriyah after an Iraqi civilian tipped soldiers off, became the first POW to return home Saturday.

The United States lists five other soldiers as missing and seven as prisoners of war.

Doctors: Rescued U.S. POWs in Good Health

April 17, 2003

From Cnn.com
LANDSTUHL, Germany - The seven American POWs rescued in Iraq are in good health but need "individual attention" to help them cope with the emotional toll of three weeks in captivity, military doctors said.

The seven got a much needed night of sleep after they were flown from Kuwait to the U.S. military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. On Thursday, they received thorough medical examinations.

"They're all in good shape," said Landstuhl spokeswoman Marie Shaw.

The POWs were freed Sunday by U.S. Marines south of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and taken to Kuwait, where they underwent initial medical checks and debriefings.

At Landstuhl, the seven were being further debriefed and were speaking with psychologists and a chaplain to help them deal with their ordeal.

"They bonded as prisoners when they were there, but they will each need individual attention," said a Landstuhl spokesman, Dan Unger.

Five of the freed prisoners were comrades of former POW Jessica Lynch from the U.S. Army's 507th Maintenance Support Company, which was ambushed in southern Iraq. The other two were helicopter pilots from the 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment.

After landing in Landstuhl on Wednesday night, six of the former POWs, dressed in military fatigues, walked down a C-141 aircraft's rear ramp, shaking hands with air base workers and waving at reporters.

U.S. Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson, 30, who was shot in the foot during the ambush, was carried off the plane on a stretcher. She was greeted by applause from a group of air base workers.

Also wounded was Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21, who was shot in the elbow. The others did not appear to have serious physical injuries, officials said.

None of the group was expected to stay long at Landstuhl.

The freed members of the 507th Maintenance Support Company ambushed in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on March 23 are Johnson, Hernandez; Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23, Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, and Sgt. James Riley, 31.

The pilots are Chief Warrant Officer David S. Williams, 30, and Chief Warrant Officer Ronald D. Young Jr., 26.

Landstuhl is the largest U.S. military hospital outside the United States, and so far has treated more than 200 patients with battlefield injuries from the war in Iraq.

Among them was Lynch, who was flown back to the United States on Saturday and was recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. She was injured much more seriously than her comrades, suffering a head wound, a spinal injury and fractures to her right arm, both legs and her right foot and ankle.
 

Former prisoners of war reunited with families, begin process of readjustment

Off CNN.com

April 20, 2003

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - To chants of ``Hoo-ah!'' and tearful hugs from family, seven American soldiers who survived three harrowing weeks of captivity in Iraq made a joyous homecoming and began a long journey of adjustment and healing.

At one of the most spiritual times of the year for many Americans - Easter and Passover - one of the rescued POWs was still thinking of all the U.S. troops still in Iraq.

``I say a special prayer each night for our fallen comrades, for the soldiers that didn't make it home, and the ones that are still over there. I want everyone to remember them in their prayers,'' Chief Warrant Officer Ronald D. Young Jr. told 1,500 cheering colleagues, friends and family members who had gathered late Saturday night at Fort Hood.

The events at Fort Bliss, where five members of the 507th Maintenance Company were returning home, and Fort Hood, where two helicopter pilots also held as POWs were based, were at times solemn, raucous and even humorous.

``This almost makes me as nervous as being shot at,'' the tall, lanky Young, of Lithia Springs, Ga., quipped as he gazed out at the crowd.

``Hoo-ah!'' hollered comrades wearing black berets. Others let out piercing whistles.

Young, 26, was flown to Fort Hood with fellow Apache helicopter pilot Chief Warrant Officer David S. Williams, of Orlando, Fla., after all seven POWs landed at Fort Bliss.

For many of the rescued soldiers, homecoming meant basking in life's little joys - a daughter's tresses or a home-cooked meal.

``The only thing he's talked about was if his little girl's hair had grown,'' said Williams' uncle Russell Tucker. ``That was the first thing he asked.''

After the ceremonies were over, Williams and Young were whisked away from the gaze of TV cameras and jubilant well-wishers to spend their first night at home with family.

The five other rescued POWs were spending Saturday night at Fort Bliss to undergo evaluation by doctors from nearby William Beaumont Army Medical Center.

For Williams, Saturday marked only the third night he has spent in the home that he, his wife, and his two young children, 2-year-old Jason and 6-month-old Madison, moved into days before he was deployed in January.

The house has since been landscaped, fenced, and the front lawn now features a stone monument to the Apache pilot's captivity and rescue.

About 20 of Williams' family members planned to be together Sunday for an Easter lunch, said Tucker, who wore a red, white and blue button with his nephew's picture and kept a digital camera handy to show off pictures of the pilot's two children.

Williams and Young were escorted down a red carpet to a swarm of overjoyed friends and relatives who exchanged hugs and handshakes with them. The crowd cheered and clapped amid the tumult of a brass band's military tunes.

``I'm speechless. It feels good to be home and let's keep praying for all those soldiers who are still fighting. God bless America. I love you,'' Williams, 30, said to a standing ovation. He hugged his wife Michelle, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot, as he stepped down from the podium.

President Bush planned to fly to Fort Hood for Easter services with soldiers and their families Sunday. During the visit he also will meet privately with the two pilots, White House officials said.

At Fort Bliss, as the plane taxied along the tarmac, two of the former POWs, Spc. Joseph Hudson and Pfc. Patrick Miller, poked their heads through a hatch on top of the plane, holding an American flag and waving to the crowd.

Hudson bounded off the plane, hugged his wife Natalie and scooped up his 5-year-old daughter, Cameron. The other returning soldiers also greeted loved ones, who gathered under the tail of the plane.

Spc. Shoshana Johnson gripped a flag in each hand and hopped on one leg as she was helped onto a golf cart. She had been shot in both ankles during the ambush.

The cart then took the five POWs from the 507th Maintenance Company on a victory lap in front of the overjoyed crowd, which occasionally broke into chants of ``USA! USA!'' Hudson jumped off at one point and said ``This is a great country. God bless America!''

All seven POWs had been recuperating at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany since Wednesday. They were rescued April 13, when Iraqi captors abandoned their posts ahead of advancing American troops.

The Fort Bliss soldiers were captured and nine comrades were killed in a March 23 attack near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. Another member of the 507th, Pfc. Jessica Lynch, was rescued separately in a daring commando raid April 1 and continues to recuperate in Washington, D.C.

The Fort Bliss soldiers are Hudson, 23, Alamogordo, N.M.; Johnson, 30, El Paso, Texas; Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21, Mission, Texas; Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, Park City, Kan.; and Sgt. James Riley, 31, Pennsauken, N.J.

Williams and Young are with the Army's 1st Cavalry Division.

Col. Glenn Mitchell, commander at William Beaumont Army Medical Center, said it could take between two to four days beginning Monday before the Fort Bliss soldiers are cleared to go home.

Families of the soldiers expressed joy that the nightmare was over.

``We cannot tell you how excited we are. It was just devastating what we went through and all of a sudden it's like the sun coming up after a stormy night,'' said Tucker, Williams' uncle.