Posted on 05/19/2004 8:56:56 AM PDT by presidio9
bump for later
Copied...saved...bumped.
This will be shared.
Thank you, and God Bless you, Soldier.
All I can say is Thank You! otherwise I am speechless.
BUMP BUMP FOR LATER
thanks for your story and your service.
i'd like to see the u.s. military back up convoys like yours with more support. some wart hogs above, or whatever would be effect. teach the bastards a lesson.
my question is, how do all of these leftist photographers working for the media get the critical shots during or immediately after?
i get tired of seeing some iraqi celebrating over american injuries or deaths.
i'd like to see sharpshooters with these photographers that steal their photo opportunities by killing the perps.
Holy crap!
We saw a Bradley tank coming towards us, it drove into the city firing at anything that moved, and two more tanks were following behind it.
A good summation of combat vs service support troops...
How could a convoy of fuel trucks move through Baghdad and not have more cover than this???
Good God! This is astounding.
Wow.
Real information BTTT!
ping........................
God help our soldiers. This is a remarkable story! What a writer Jarob D. Walsh, U.S. Army Specialist is!
Our soldiers. God love them.
View of same convoy action by contract driver.
Silver City resident caught in ambush in Iraq
By Melissa St. Aude
May 11, 2004, 17:58
Edward Sanchez Jr., 35, of Silver City, said he wasn't trying to be
a hero when he took a job that required him to drive a truck through
an Iraqi war zone, but that didn't stop fate and world events from
conspiring to earn him a place in history.
He said he accepted the truck-driving job with Texas-based Kellogg,
Brown and Root - a subsidiary of Halliburton - partly for the money,
and partly for the adventure, he said.
"I took the job knowing I was going to Iraq," Sanchez told the Daily
Press. "The job market here (in Silver City) is bad. The money (the
company offered) was good, and the job provided room and board, so I
thought, this was an opportunity to save some money."
Sanchez left the United States for Iraq on Jan. 11, in what would be
his first overseas adventure.
"I'd never been anywhere except Canada and Mexico," he said. "My
family was worried and tried to discourage me from going."
Sanchez had been in Iraq only a few months when, on April 9, his
civilian convoy of about 20 trucks, transporting fuel and other
supplies through Iraq, was attacked by Iraqi insurgents outside of
Baghdad. The attack resulted in several civilian and military
casualties, injuries, and kidnappings - including that of Thomas
Hamill, 43, who later made headlines when he escaped and was found
by American Army personnel.
Sanchez, who was driving a truck at the time, was injured in the
attack when a bullet struck him in the upper leg and a bullet
fragment hit his neck. He drove for about two miles after being
struck, and along the way, picked up several stranded co-workers and
soldiers from the convoy, before his truck finally broke down.
Ray Stanndard, of El Paso, Texas, is one of the Kellogg, Brown and
Root employees Sanchez rescued that day.
"The day was the ultimate bad day," Stanndard told the Daily
Press. "It was pretty terrifying."
Stanndard said most of that day's 60-mile trip from Camp Anaconda to
Baghdad International Airport was routine, until the convoy reached
the outskirts of Baghdad, about 15 miles from its destination.
"That's when we saw some ominous signs, some burned-out flatbeds and
tankers, and very little traffic," he said. "It was kind of strange,
but we just kept on going. We had been doing longer trips with only
slight incidents, but that day, we set out not knowing what we would
run into. The lead vehicle was shot at, and everyone in it was
killed, and then, all hell broke loose.
"People were coming over the radio and saying, 'I'm hit,' and I
wasn't sure if they meant their body had been hit or their vehicle.
I remember Tommy Hamill coming over the radio saying he had been
shot. He was one of the first, then more and more people came on the
radio, saying they had been shot. Some were crying on the radio. We
saw one truck engulfed in flames and black smoke."
Stanndard said he continued driving, keeping an eye out for
survivors, until his truck, which had been struck by several
bullets, broke down.
"We got out of the truck and crouched down and played dead until a
soldier came along to help. A Humvee arrived and another soldier
tried to wave to us to get on, but before we could get on, the truck
went up in flames, and the soldier had to jump out," he said. "Then
Eddie (Sanchez) came along. He was driving, and could have kept
going, but he stopped and told us to get on. We jumped on."
Stanndard said another wounded co-worker had attempted to climb into
the truck as it began moving, but didn't make it inside the vehicle.
He hung onto the door as the truck proceeded down the road.
"As he was driving, Eddie was holding onto this other man, who was
hanging onto the door. The man had taken a bullet and was trying to
hang onto to the truck. Eddie kept him from falling," Stanndard
said. "Then the truck Eddie was driving was shot up. A solider with
us had been shot in the chest. The truck came to a complete stop on
the bridge."
The group of 10 - five soldiers and five civilians - spent about 15
minutes to half an hour in a sheltered safety zone before American
Army personnel picked them up, he said.
Stanndard suffered a broken wrist and other injuries during the
incident.
"They took the seriously wounded first; two from our group later
died," Stanndard told the Daily Press. "Me and Eddie, and another
guy were patched up in a field tent and then sent to the hosptial."
Only seven of the more than 20 trucks from the convoy made it to the
safety of the base in Baghdad, according to Stanndard.
"My faith got me through that incident," Sanchez said. "Trucks were
on fire and we could hear people on the radio getting shot and
asking for help. Bullets were hitting the truck and coming in
through the windows."
Sanchez said that prior to arriving in Iraq, Kellogg, Brown and Root
had provided company employees defensive driving courses to try to
prepare them for incidents such as the April 9 attack.
"We were trained for this, and the military trained us also on how
to respond," Sanchez said. "But it was still frightening. I do feel
that the company took all the necessary steps to ensure our safety."
The wounded were transported to a nearby Army facility, then Sanchez
was taken to a hospital in Kuwait where he underwent surgery for his
bullet wounds, and was debriefed.
"My family had been worried," he said. "I called them as soon as I
could to let them know that I was all right."
Sanchez returned to Silver City on April 26, and says he respects
the civilian and military men and women serving in Iraq.
"The living conditions are rough," he said. "Most people are living
in tents and the dust is very hard on the lungs. Most are working
very long hours - 10- to 18-hour days - to help bring a better life
to the people of Iraq. Part of the reason I wanted to go to Iraq in
the first place is to help, and also, I hoped to evangelize and
minister to the Americans working there. They're going through
hardships, being away from home."
During the months he was there, Sanchez said, he was able to help
comfort many of the men and women serving in Iraq.
"We had Bible study groups, and I think that helped a lot of
people," he said. "So much of Scriptural history takes place in
Iraq, so that made being there special. Jesus must have walked
through there at one point, and the Garden of Eden is supposed to
have been in Iraq - although, we didn't see any traces of the
garden."
In a press statement released by Halliburton and KBR on May 7, the
company said: "Books may not be written nor movies made about the
courage, dedication and sacrifice of our employees in Iraq, but each
and every one is a hero in the cause of peace and stability, and
history will record them as such.
"While our employees choosing to serve in Iraq recognize the dangers
inherent in working in a war zone, they are driven by their desire
to help rebuild a country and contribute to the creation of a
democracy.
"Civilian contractors work side-by-side with the military and Iraqi
people. Our work is difficult and in a dangerous environment, and
Halliburton and its subcontractors have lost 35 personnel while
performing services under our contracts in the Kuwait-Iraq region."
Sanchez said, he doesn't think of himself as a hero, and was only
trying to do his job while in Iraq.
Now that he's home, he said he'll continue to recuperate from his
injuries and appreciate the time he can spend with his mother, Irene
Sanchez of Silver City, and wife, Dana Sanchez, also a Silver City
resident.
He has kept the piece of bullet doctors removed from his neck, and
said he'll hang onto it for a while, as a reminder of the role he
played in history.
© Copyright 2004 by thedailypress.com
Just to show you guys that I am not all about Anna Kournikova, and underwear, and how Germans relieve themselves, and Morford, I want you all to read this very moving story.
next thing you know, Martin will be trying to claim some sort of legitimacy also... ; ) thanks, P9 : ), i don't think of you as a little ball of fluff no matter what everyone else says...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.