Rescued US PoWs arrive in Germany

A plane carrying seven US prisoners of war who were rescued in Iraq have arrived at a military base in Germany, where they were to be examined at a military hospital.

The seven were last night brought on a C-141 transport aircraft from Kuwait to Ramstein US air base, the latest stop on their return home after three weeks in Iraqi captivity.

Six of the former PoWs, dressed in military fatigues, walked down the aircraft’s rear ramp, shaking hands with air base workers and waving at reporters.

US Army Specialist Shoshana Johnson, who was shot in the foot during the ambush that led to the capture of her comrades, was carried off the plane on a stretcher, partly covered by a blue blanket and wearing fatigues. Smiling and wearing a blue baseball cap, the 30-year-old was greeted by applause from a group of air base workers.

The seven were then taken to the nearby Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre.

Five of the freed prisoners were colleagues of former PoW Jessica Lynch from the US Army’s 507th Maintenance Support Company. The other two were freed Apache helicopter pilots from the 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment.

None of the group was expected to stay long at Landstuhl. Also wounded was Specialist Edgar Hernandez, 21, who was shot in the elbow.

The transport plane that brought them also carried 41 wounded soldiers, about half of whom had combat injuries.

Whether the seven former PoWs will return to the US together depends on their medical conditions, Landstuhl spokeswoman Marie Shaw said.

“Most seem to be in very good health,” she said. ”First we have to see them.”

Since reaching Kuwait on Sunday after their dramatic rescue from a house south of the Iraqi city of Tikrit, the former PoWs have been kept away from news media and undergone medical checks, both physical and mental, and debriefings.

The freed members of the 507th are Johnson, Hernandez, Specialist Joseph Hudson, 23, Private Patrick Miller, 23, and Sergeant James Riley, 31.

The freed pilots are Chief Warrant Officer David Williams, 30, and Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young Jr, 26.

Landstuhl is the largest US military hospital in Europe, and so far has treated more than 200 patients with battlefield injuries from the war in Iraq.

Among them was Lynch, who was flown back to the US on Saturday.