United States prisoners of war in the 2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq, which lasted from March 20 to May 1, 2003, resulted in a small number of U.S. and Coalition Prisoners of war. 507th Maintenance Company March 23rd Ambush and Capture A majority of the prisoners of war were captured from the ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company. Separated from a larger convoy, they were ambushed in the Iraqi-held town of Nasiriyah on March 23, 2003. Out of thirty-three soldiers present, eleven were killed and seven were captured in the firefight. Several weapons of some soldiers jammed in the firefight. These following soldiers were captured by the Iraqi forces: Iraqi TV interview Soon after their capture, Jessica Lynch was taken to an Iraqi hospital due to her serious injuries. The other five POWs, bloodied and beaten, were interviewed by the Iraqi TV, and the footage shown worldwide by the Al Jazeera. In the interview, Private First Class Patrick Miller was asked why he came to Iraq; his reply was "I came to fix broken stuff." He was then asked if he came to shoot Iraqis, he answered, "No, I came to shoot only if I am shot at. They don't bother me, I don't bother them." In a CNN newscast, Miller stated that he believed that he was intended to be killed after his capture. March 24th Downed Helicopter and Capture On March 24, they were joined by Chief Chief Warrant Officers Officers David Williams, 31, and Ronald Young Jr., 26, whose AH-64 Apache helicopter from the 1-227 Helicopter Attack Battalion had been shot down in central Iraq during the attack on Karbala. Relocation and Rescue The prisoners had been taken to Baghdad, where they were isolated in separate prison cells. As American troops came closer, the soldiers were shifted from building to building. As it became clear that the war was over for the Iraqis, some of their captors approached a Marine unit from the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Delta Co., 3rd Platoon which was a part of Task Force Tripoli that had been pushing up toward Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown. A Marine battalion was sent to check on intelligence and found the seven POWs with a confused Iraqi guard unit, whose officers had fled. On 13 April 2003, 21 days after the 507th members were captured, members of the 3rd Light Armored Recon burst in on the Iraqi guards who gave up without a fight. Ordering everyone on the floor, a Marine gave an order to "Stand up if you're American!" Given dirty prison clothes and fed little food, the prisoners had lost a lot of weight and with their garb, and beards they looked like Iraqis. "At first," Spc. Shoshana Johnson remembers that, "They didn't realize I was American. They said, 'Get down, get down,' and one of them said, 'No, she's American.'" Within hours, the seven were on their way to Kuwait International Airport inside a Marine Corps KC-130 transport plane, the first stop before the United States. They told their stories