Pentagon: Bodies of missing soldiers found in raid
Saturday, April 5, 2003 Posted: 2:14 AM EST (0714 GMT)
(CNN) --The bodies of eight missing members of an Army maintenance convoy were recovered in the raid on an Iraqi hospital that freed Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, the Pentagon said Saturday.
The soldiers had been listed as missing in action since their convoy drove into an ambush near the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriya on March 23.
Seven of the eight were from Lynch's 507th Maintenance Company, based at Fort Bliss, Texas. The other soldier was with the 3rd Division Support Battalion, based at Fort Stewart, Georgia.
Lynch had been listed as a prisoner of war and was being held in a hospital in the southern town of Nasiriya before U.S. forces rescued her early Wednesday. Five other members of the unit were shown on Iraqi TV and are still listed as prisoners.
A ninth body recovered in the raid has not been identified. There was no word from the Pentagon on Saturday on whether the soldiers died in the ambush or afterward.
The soldiers have been identified as:
• Sgt. George E. Buggs, 31, Barnwell, South Carolina, 3rd Division Support Battalion
• Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, 38, Cleveland, Ohio, 507th Maintenance Company
• Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, 18, El Paso, Texas, 507th Maintenance Company
• Spc. James M. Kiehl, 22, Comfort, Texas, 507th Maintenance Company
• Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, 35, Amarillo, Texas, 507th Maintenance Company
• Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, 23, Tuba City, Arizona, 507th Maintenance Company
• Pvt. Brandon U. Sloan, 19, Cleveland, Ohio, 507th Maintenance Company
• Sgt. Donald R. Walters, 33, Kansas City, Missouri, 507th Maintenance Company
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