POWs come home

last updated 8 January 2015

Fort Bliss, Texas

Seven American soldiers returned home this week after spending three weeks as prisoners of war in Iraq. The former POWs were greeted by hundreds of cheering relatives, comrades, and friends. “It’s like the sun coming up after a stormy night,” said Russell Tucker, whose nephew was captured after his Apache helicopter went down. The two helicopter pilots were flown home along with five members of the Army’s 507th Maintenance Company who were captured in an ambush. Images of the shaken 507th soldiers had been broadcast on Iraqi television, along with pictures of some of their dead comrades. The POWs were rescued as U.S. troops took control of northern Iraq. “This is a great country,” said former prisoner Spc. Joseph Hudson after he was reunited with his wife and daughter. “God bless America.”