US POWs return home

3.00pm

FORT BLISS, Texas - FORT BLISS, Texas - Seven freed US prisoners of war were flown back to the United States on Saturday, arriving at a military base in Texas to the embraces their families and the cheers of hundreds well-wishers waving flags and yellow ribbons.

The two Apache helicopter pilots, Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young, Chief Warrant Officer David Williams, and five members of an Army maintenance unit, specialists Edgar Hernandez, Joseph Hudson, Shoshana Johnson, Patrick Miller and New Zealand-born Sgt James Riley, were freed by US forces last Sunday north of Baghdad after being captured in Iraq in March.

Another member of the same maintenance unit, Private Jessica Lynch was rescued separately by US special forces on April 1 and is recovering from injuries in a Washington military hospital.

The seven former POWs flown home on Saturday had been recuperating at a US Air Force base in Germany since Wednesday.

People in the crowd at Fort Bliss had tears in their eyes as they watched the POWs step from the military transport plane as the sun was setting in Texas.

Onlookers cheered as one of the seven, Specialist Shoshana Johnson, who was shot in both ankles, was helped to her feet and waved the flags of the United States and Panama, where she was born.

The former prisoners will spend the weekend with their families after receiving a medical evaluation.

They seemed in good spirits as they waved flags and exchanged high-fives with people in the crowd as they drove past in an open, electric vehicle. They did not speak to the media.

Several people in the crowd said they were overwhelmed with emotion.

"This is the happiest thing I've ever seen. I'm just so happy they're home. I'm so proud of them," said Yolanda Alvarez, who was among those welcoming the POWs home.

"We are just truly happy. They seem to have gotten back to us in just excellent shape," said a medical officer at Fort Bliss, which is near the west Texas city of El Paso.

Five of the seven former POWs are with the 507th Maintenance Company and are stationed at Fort Bliss.

The two Apache pilots, who are with the 1st Cavalry Division, were due to head for Fort Hood, in central Texas, where they are based.

Pictures of the bruised and terrified POWs were beamed around the world by Arab television shortly after their capture, drawing White House warnings of possible war crimes trials against Iraqi military officials if they were harmed.

Three of the POWs were treated for bullet wounds at Landstuhl, Germany, the largest US military hospital outside the United States.

Landstuhl, near the US air base at Ramstein, treated more than 545 US military personnel hurt in the Iraq war, of which 223 were combat wounds.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq war