Free Republic

More than 1,000 people are gathered at the Biggs Army Airfield deployment facility this afternoon to pay tribute to the nine members of the 507th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss who were killed in an ambush near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on March 23. Among those attending the ceremony are Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki along with Congressional leaders. Soldiers and civilians began filing into the deployment facility around 1:30 p.m. today. They steadily filled chairs facing a stage backdrop with a wall of blue fabric and a 20-foot tall american flag. At the front of the...

April 2, 2003 American, Captive for Week, Is Rescued by Special ForcesBy JOHN M. BRODER OHA, Qatar, Wednesday, April 2 — American Special Operations forces today rescued Pfc. Jessica Lynch of the Army from Nasiriya, Iraq, where she had been held captive since March 23. Private Lynch, 19, of Palestine, W. Va., was found in the Saddam Hospital in Nasiriya, which was also being used as an Iraqi military facility, a Central Command official said. She was one of 15 members of the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company, which was attacked by Iraqi forces after taking a wrong turn off...