Dark days, with death outside door: Rescued POWs tell of ambush in Nasiriyah, time of captivity

MSNBC ^ | April 14 , 2003 | Peter Baker

[Polybius]

NUMANIYAH, Iraq, April 14 — The wrong turn happened just after dawn on a clear Sunday morning, March 23. The convoy from the Army’s 507th Maintenance Company wandered by mistake into the riverfront city of Nasiriyah and suddenly it seemed to the soldiers that every Iraqi was trying to kill them.

“WE GOT TURNED around and then lost and we rolled into Nasiriyah before it was secure and when we rolled in there was an ambush waiting for us,” recalled Spec. Shoshana Johnson, 30, from El Paso.

The bullets and explosions came from all sides. Some of the vehicles flipped over. Other drivers hit the gas hoping to outrun the danger, but ran into even heavier fire. In the swirling dust, soldiers’ rifles jammed. Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, from suburban Wichita, began shoving rounds into his rifle one at a time, firing single shots at enemies swarming all around.

Some Americans died where they fell. Johnson was shot with a single bullet that sliced through both feet. Spec. Edgar Hernandez, 21, of Mission, Tex., was hit in the biceps of his right arm. Spec. Joseph Hudson, 23, of Alamogordo, N.M., was shot three times, twice in the ribs and once in the upper left buttocks.

(MSNBC/Newsweek articles must be excerpted.)

[homeschool mama]

God bless them...

[Support Free Republic]

Marxists aren't just pretending to want control
	Send them packing. Donate Here By Secure Server Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD- It is in the breaking news sidebar!

[Retrofire]

I have to admit, I'm tiring rather rapidly of the journalistic license taken by article writers.

When they don't know a fact, they should not purvey assumptions or untruths.

The Apache the two warrant officers were flying was not "shot out of the sky" or "wrecked." At least until the coaliton destroyed it.

I have heard two stories now...One is that the Apache had mechanical failure, and hard-landed, and the other that a 23mm round passed through the pilot compartment and split the pilot's boot, burning him and forcing him to land.

When facts are in doubt (or nonexistent), it is becoming expected that the media will "fill in the blanks," and that's just unacceptable.

I never did care much for CNN or MSNBC, but recent events have left me extremely distrustful of the media...Period.

[Chi-townChief]

This is a miracle to me. I know a lot of our "religious leaders" are saying that God is not taking a side in this war but yesterday He certainly smiled on us for whatever reason.

[Happy2BMe]

It's The Soldier

It's the soldier not the reporter who gives you the freedom of the press.

It's the soldier not the poet who gives you the freedom of speech.

It's the soldier not the campus organizer who allows you to demonstrate.

It's the soldier who salutes the flag, serves the flag, whose coffin is draped with the flag that allows the protester to burn the flag!!!

"Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen."