8 Bodies Found in Raid Were U.S. Soldiers

AP | 4/05/03

[kattracks]

8 Bodies Found in Raid Were U.S. Soldiers

.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Eight of the bodies found during the rescue of an American POW in Iraq this week were members of her ambushed Army maintenance unit, the Pentagon announced Saturday.

The eight soldiers were with Pfc. Jessica Lynch when their unit, the 507th Maintenance Company, was ambushed near Nasiriyah on March 23.

The U.S. commandos who freed Lynch from a hospital in Nasiriyah this week also found 11 bodies, nine of which were believed to be those of Americans. The nine bodies had been returned to a forensics center at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for identification and investigation of how they died.

The Pentagon issued a statement early Saturday morning saying the status of the eight soldiers had been changed from missing to killed.

The soldiers were:

Sgt. George E. Buggs, 31, of Barnwell, S.C.

Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, 38, of Cleveland.

Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, 18, of El Paso, Texas.

Spc. James M. Kiehl, 22, of Comfort, Texas.

Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, 35, of Amarillo, Texas.

Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, 23, of Tuba City, Ariz.

Pvt. Brandon U. Sloan, 19, of Cleveland.

Sgt. Donald R. Walters, 33, of Kansas City, Mo.

All were members of the 507th Maintenance, an army unit based at Fort Bliss, Texas.

Five members of the unit remain listed as prisoners of war. Shortly after the unit's ambush, the five were shown on Iraqi state-run television being questioned by their captors.

Iraqi television also showed footage of at least five bodies. After viewing that footage, Pentagon officials accused Iraq of executing prisoners of war.

There was no immediate word from the Pentagon Saturday on whether the soldiers were killed in the ambush or afterward.

04/05/03 01:00 EST

[LurkerNoMore!]

Damnit.

[seeker41]

God rest their souls, poor soldiers.

[Aerohawk]

So the 7 POW's are still unaccounted for. Let's hope they are soon rescued.

[Reagan Man]

God bless them all.

[abner]

Every time I hear of another KIA or tortured soldier, it destroys me. Then I get madder.

So sad.

[Tamzee]

So heartwrenching :-(

[faithincowboys]

Terrible news. It was inevitable though... I saw the pictures of the dead. At least, the families know and are not left in MIA limbo. Of course, it is a terrible thing to discover that the worst has happened.

God Rest their souls, and God Bless Their Families!

[LurkerNoMore!]

We still have a female POW...

[peeve23]

For this one "paybacks" will be hell.

[JohnHuang2]

Another painful reminder that freedom isn't free. Sincerest condolences to the families.

[knak]

God bless them and their families.

[TheDon]

"Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, 38, of Cleveland. "

Wasn't the commander in the field, who was relieved of command, named Dowdy?

[MEG33]

Amen and comfort all who mourn.

[abner]

We still have a female POW...

Yes, and 4 more brave men. Since they were shown on film, I think their chances for survival are better.

[cyborg]

I wonder where everyone else is. Lynch's parents must be so overcome with thankfulness that their daughter is still alive.

[LurkerNoMore!]

I agree.

[Anamensis]

Well... at least now we know. I'd been wondering. Now I wonder if we'll ever know what actually happened.

[stlnative]

That Dowdy was from Ark

[Pegita]

Comfort the families of our youngest and bravest, dear Lord, and comfort our own grieving hearts ...

[Fred Mertz]

The Iraqis can murder wrench monkeys.

This news infuriates me.

[The Shrew]

I have no words for those men and woman. Only prayers.

Regards,

TS

[Aerohawk]

6 more brave men!

[Lijahsbubbe]

I saw touching footage of Spc. James Kiehl being baptized while in the desert. His father said the thing getting him thru right now were letters and cards of support.

He was only 22 years old. A beautiful young man.

I pray for the families of those murdered and those still missing.

[kattracks]

Yes.

[Anamensis]

Every last one of these fallen are younger than I am. Just. But still... one of those things to make one brood.

[abner]

I thought it was 4 men and the one woman.

I pray they come home safe. All of our soldiers.

[Jeff Head]

FYI

Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, 35, of Amarillo, Texas

God rest all of their souls and comfort their loved ones.

[seeker41]

2 Apache choppers pilots POW status as well.

[stands2reason]

Oh God--God bless their families, and may they be comforted by Your hand...

[freepersup]

IMHO, the Army needs to adopt far more agressive tactical combat skills / philosophy, regarding basic and advanced training of it's soldiers, akin to what the Marines do. With the Marines, everyone is first and foremost a rifleman / grunt / infantryman, which gives them the ability to form up fire teams, provide protective cover fire, etc., instinctively.

I am in no way second guessing the men and women of the 507th, as they were ambushed after becoming separated from the convoy which they were traveling in.

It would be interesting to know how much ammo each soldier had on their person. My guess is possibly two 20 round magazines in an ammo pouch and another 20 rounds in their weapon. Probably few hand grenades if any, amongst the lot of them. Doubtful anything heavier was available, weapon wise. I have a hunch that any extra 5.56 ammo was stored in such a way that getting to it was next to impossible. Likely crated and up in the back of a deuce and a half with the company's other supplies.

Tragic circumstances...

[Anamensis]

I'm so tired but I just can't go to bed. I just keep listening to Fox, surfing Free Republic, and wondering what has happened, what will happen...

[Aerohawk]

You're absolutely correct on that. Back in 1994 or sometime around there it seems like I remebmer the Army went to a "stress free" basic training.

Enlistments were down and they wanted to put the word out that basic training wasn't the "hell" that everyone imagined it to be.

Since then, it seems like they have lowered many other standards as well.

[Rollee]

We do, and I have been praying for her and her family constantly. I pray for all of the soldiers, and the pows, but a woman pow will suffer a particularly degrading form of abuse. My heart goes out to the families of those brave soldiers that were found. I hope God eases their pain a bit.

[secret garden]

You're not alone.

[zeaal]

Bless them and God bless their families with comfort and peace during these times.

[dandelion]

Ah God. For the families, for the loved ones who will never see them again, it is the ultimate price to pay for Freedom.

At last, some who were lost are found. We must now pray for those who are not yet found - is there yet another angel to step forward and help us bring them safely home?

[dandelion]

You are among the many of us. I'm so tired, but I keep thinking hitting reload, praying someone will come on and say the others have been rescued.

[bonfire]

The Mansions of the Lord

From We Were Soldiers



To fallen soldiers let us sing

Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing

Our broken brothers let us bring

To the Mansions of the Lord



No more bleeding, no more fight

No prayers pleading through the night

Just divine embrace, eternal light

In the Mansions of the Lord



Where no mothers cry and no children weep

We will stand and guard though the angels sleep

Through the ages safely keep

The Mansions of the Lord

[Squantos]

Yeah I saw that.......America's Hero's.........God Bless them all !

[2Jedismom]

The guy that was relieved was Joe Dowdy, from Arkansas...this soldier is Robert J. Dowdy from Cleveland. I wonder if they are related?

[Jael]

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=15582

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--An American soldier listed as missing in action apparently accepted Christ and was baptized several days before being captured.

James M. Kiehl, 22, of Comfort, Texas, was the focus of a report on Dallas' KTVT-TV March 26, during which Kiehl was seen being immersed in the middle of the desert.

Kiehl is one of seven members of the 507th Maintenance Company -- part of the 111th Air Defense Artillery Brigade stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas -- listed as missing in action. Five other members of the 507th have been seen on Iraqi television and are listed as prisoners of war.

During the television report, KTVT's Robert Riggs said Kiehl "seemed to have a deeper awareness about the dangers of combat than any soldier we talked to."

"You've always got the threat of something new," Kiehl said during the report. "Every morning you wake up and it's happening on that morning."

Riggs reported that Kiehl "turned his life over to Christ shortly before the launch of the ground attack. ... His moment of decision had been prompted by a call from home -- a family member told him it was time to pick the right path for his life."

Kiehl's wife, Jill, is pregnant with the couple's first child and is due the last week of April, according to KFOX-TV in El Paso, Texas.

"You know, your mind wants to play tricks on you and you always wonder," she said in an ABC News report. "Missing in action is pretty general. You don't know whether he's alive or dead. You just know, they don't know where he's at."

Another member of Kiehl's company, prisoner of war Patrick Miller, 23, from Valley Center, Kan., accepted Christ during marriage counseling sessions at Olivet Baptist Church in Wichita last year, Baptist Press reported March 25.

[patriciaruth]

the POWs: Patrick Miller, Joseph Hudson, Edgar Hernandez, James Riley, and Shoshana Johnson from the 507th; David Williams and Ronald Young from the Apache helicopter.

[LurkerNoMore!]

Thank you, patriciaruth

[DoughtyOne]

Yes, damn. As bad as her wounds and treatment must have been, Jessica's deepest wound most likely was having to watch her fellow men killed before her. This will go down as one of the darkest episodes of this war.

[abner]

Thank you for the clarification. I appreciate it, and hope the list stays right where it is or shrinks with some more butt-whoopings from our special forces!

[patriciaruth]

Top Ten Things Saddam Hussein will be doing this weekend--Letterman

1. Kissing his ass goodbye!

[abner]

I'm cautiously optimistic about his assessment. LOL!

[KC_Conspirator]

I noticed the same thing. It makes sense if there is some relation and some of people have an apology coming if they are relation. Some of those threads on Commander Dowdy's dismissla were pretty harsh.