| Other
Personnel in Incident:
Killed
in action:
Spc. Jamaal R. Addison, 22, of Roswell, GA; Pfc. Howard Johnson II, 21, of
Mobile, Ala.
Missing
in action (later declared KIA):
Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, 38, of Cleveland, Ohio; Pvt. Ruben
Estrella-Soto, 18, of El Paso; Spc. James M. Kiehl, 22, of Des Moines,
Iowa; Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, 35, of El Paso; Pfc.
Lori Ann Piestewa, 23, of Tuba City, Ariz.; Pvt. Brandon Ulysses Sloan,
19, of Bedford, Ohio; and Sgt. Donald Ralph Walters, 33, of Salem, Ore.
Prisoners
of war:
Spc. Edgar Adan Hernandez, 21, of Mission, Texas; Spc. Joseph Neal Hudson,
23, of Alamogordo, N.M.; Spc. Shoshana Nyree Johnson, 30, of El Paso; Pfc.
Patrick Wayne Miller, 23, of Walter, Kan.; and Sgt. James Joseph Riley,
31, of Pennsauken, N.J.
Four
more members of the unit were wounded, but managed to hold off or evade
enemy forces until a Marine unit arrived to help evacuate them.
Source:
Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw data
from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews. May 2004.
Synopsis:
A group of about 20 members of the 507th was ambushed near An Nasiriyah,
Iraq on the fourth day of battle by civilian-clothed Iraqi forces. The
soldiers were supplying the 3rd Infantry Division in its drive to Baghdad
in central Iraq when they took a wrong turn. Broadcast pictures showed the
convoy with a vehicle that appeared to have its tires shot out, another
was overturned. Six vehicles were destroyed according to media reports.
The
507th, which deployed with the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, is not
considered a combat unit, Defense Department officials said. Made up
mostly of mechanics, the 507th keeps the diesel tanker trucks rolling,
fixes generators and keeps the mechanical parts in good shape. Lynch was a
supply clerk.
Some
members of the 507th were shown on Iraqi television as prisoners being
questioned.
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Military Says Oregon Guardsman Was Executed
April 2003
<http://www.katu.com/news/images/story2004/040316donald_walters.jpg>
By Shannon L. Cheesman
Salem, Ore. - After a long fight to get recognition for their son's
actions in Iraq, the family of Sgt. Donald Walters has now learned some
shocking news from the military - that their son was taken as a prisoner
of war and later shot in the back.
Major Arnold Strong with the Oregon National Guard made the announcement
this afternoon, saying a Defense Department representative visited with
the Walters earlier this week to tell them the news.
Walters' wife was also notified this week.
Walters' status has now been changed from 'Killed in Action' to
'Captured,' and his death is now listed as a homicide.
According to Strong, Walters was killed by Fedayeen rebels who held him
for a couple of hours before pulling him into a room separate from his
fellow soldiers and shooting him twice in the back.
The Background
Arlene Walters' son, Donald Walters, was among several soldiers with the
507th Maintenance Division serving their country in Iraq back in March of
2003.
On March 23, the army supply convoy somehow ended up taking a wrong turn
and the U.S. soldiers were ambushed by Iraqi forces.
Not long after the ambush, five members of the 507th Maintenance Division
showed up in Iraqi television footage being asked questions by their
captors.
The video also showed bodies, apparently of U.S. soldiers, which led
Pentagon officials to accuse Iraq of executing some of its POWs.
Sgt. Donald Walters, along with other soldiers from his unit, were listed
as missing in action.
More than a week after the ambush, Pfc. Jessica Lynch was rescued from an
Iraqi hospital by U.S. forces.
During the rescue operation, 11 bodies were recovered in and around the
hospital, one of whom would be identified as Sgt. Donald Walters.
Following Lynch's rescue, the military painted her as a hero, saying she
received stab wounds and returned fire on her attackers.
However, Lynch would later say those things never happened and that she
believed her fellow soldiers, including Donald Walters, were not given the
credit they were due.
"They deserve the attention. Yeah, they're American soldiers
too," she said at the time.
Last summer, Arlene told KATU News she there was information that a U.S.
soldier who could have been Walters was killed in action near where the
ambush occured.
Although the report Arlene was referring to did not name Walters, she told
KATU News that she believed her son was left alone in the desert and was
the one who fought to his last breath.
"Don was a fighter, and I can just see him out there fighting,"
she said at the time.
Walters' mother fought to have the military recognize her son's actions in
Iraq and Sgt. Donald Walters was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart
posthumously, as well as a Silver Star.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/10407053.htm
12/14/04
.....Donald Walters was killed on
March 23, 2003, four days after the first air strikes on Baghdad. Besides
his wife, he left behind a daughter, now 2½, and two older daughters from
his first marriage.
His Oregon National Guard Unit was
involved in a firefight at Nasiriyah that resulted in the deaths of 11
soldiers and the capture of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, a member of his unit.
Evidence indicated that after
running out of ammunition, Walters, a cook, was captured by Iraqi
fighters, possibly tortured, then executed.
The Army posthumously awarded him
a Bronze Star, then a Silver Star for gallantry with marked distinction
after a campaign by family members.
He also received the Purple Heart
and a POW medal......
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