Freed POWs fly back to US

LANDSTUHL, Germany: Their ordeal behind them and joyful reunions awaiting them, the seven American POWs rescued in Iraq boarded an Air Force plane and headed home to the United States on Saturday. On Friday, the soldiers greeted well-wishers from a balcony at this military medical facility and said they couldn’t wait to get home.

“We all would like to thank our Americans for the tremendous support we’ve been getting, and we’re looking forward to coming home as soon as we possibly can,” said Chief Warrant Officer David S. Williams, 30, an Apache helicopter pilot who spoke for the group. He urged Americans to pray for US troops still in Iraq. Two of the POWs playfully hoisted up Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson so she could greet the crowd. Johnson, 30, was shot in both ankles during an ambush that led to the capture of five in the group, and remains in a wheelchair. All seven were to board a plane yesterday for a flight to Texas and a reunion with loved ones. The plane is scheduled to land first at Fort Bliss, where the five members of the 507th Maintenance Support Company were based, then fly the two Apache crewmen to their home base of Fort Hood.

Pentagon officials were still finalising the schedule, but indicated that the flight would arrive at Biggs Army Air Field at Fort Bliss at approximately 9 pm. “All of the returnees are in good spirits and are eagerly anticipating their journey home,” hospital commander Col David Rubenstein said. Doctors and psychologists have kept the former POWs sequestered in a kind of transition zone between captivity and public life. Each has an individual room in a special, guarded ward equipped with tvs and videocassette recorders. They have their own table in the dining hall — where Friday they enjoyed an American breakfast of their choice. Psychologists, physicians, nurses and chaplains also are assigned to help with the transition. “It has to do with slowly reintegrating them to the public,” Rubenstein said.

Rubenstein said the soldiers were recovering from their wounds. “None of their injuries appear to be serious,” he said. “Their appetites are very good. They slept very well last night. They are catching up on the latest movies and news.” Besides Johnson, two other soldiers suffered gunshot wounds: Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21, who was shot in the elbow, and Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23. Rubenstein had no immediate details on Hudson’s wounds, but he said both men had minor injuries. Previously, military officials had only identified Hernandez and Johnson as having been shot. Five of the freed prisoners were comrades of former POW Jessica Lynch from the US Army’s 507th Maintenance Support Company, which was attacked in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on March 23. All were freed on Sunday by U.S. forces north of Baghdad and arrived in Germany on Wednesday. Pictures of the bruised and scared POWs were beamed around the world by Arab television shortly after their capture. That prompted White House warnings of possible war crimes trials against Iraqi military officials if they were harmed. Landstuhl is the largest U.S. military hospital outside the United States. It has treated more than 545 patients from the Iraq war, of which 223 were combat wounds.