April 13, 2003

Son of ARL-23 crew member POW in Iraq

Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young Jr, son of Satyr crew member, Ron Young (70-71) was rescued today by US Marines.

TIKRIT, Iraq (CNN, April 13, 2003) -- U.S. Marines advancing on Tikrit -- the last major Iraqi city not under coalition control -- freed seven U.S. prisoners of war Sunday before racing to the front.

The POWs were recovered by Marines who had been sent into Samarra to keep traffic from interfering with an armored column approaching the battle, Brig. Gen. John Kelly told Matthew Fisher, a reporter with Canada's National Post newspaper. Samarra is about 75 miles north of Baghdad.

An Iraqi policeman approached the Marines and asked if they had come for the prisoners. He led the Marines to a nearby building, Fisher reported, where they found the seven Americans guarded by at least one Iraqi soldier.

The Marines surrounded the prisoners to assure them they wouldn't be abandoned and gave them fresh clothes, Fisher said. They were given first aid and then whisked away on Army helicopters to a coalition air base 65 miles south of Baghdad.

U.S. Central Command identified the freed POWs as Spc. Joseph Hudson, Sgt. James Riley, Spc. Shoshana Johnson, Spc. Edgar Hernandez and Pfc. Patrick Miller -- members of a convoy from the U.S. Army's 507th Maintenance Company that was ambushed March 23 near Nasiriya -- and Chief Warrant Officers Ronald Young Jr. and David S. Williams, pilots who were captured March 24 after their Apache helicopter gun ship went down south of Baghdad.

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