Homecoming

Seven former prisoners of war flew back home to the United States on Saturday, arriving at military bases in Texas to embrace loved ones as ...

Seven former prisoners of war flew back home to the United States on Saturday, arriving at military bases in Texas to embrace loved ones as cheering crowds waved flags and yellow ribbons.

The seven, two Apache helicopter pilots and five soldiers from an Army maintenance unit, were freed by US forces north of Baghdad last Sunday after they were abandoned by their fleeing Iraqi captors. They had been taken prisoner in March. Another member of the same unit, Private Jessica Lynch, was rescued by US special forces on April 1. She is recovering in a Washington military hospital.

The seven flown home on Saturday had been recuperating at a US Air Force base in Germany since Wednesday.

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People in the crowd at Fort Bliss had tears in their eyes as they watched the soldiers step from the military transport plane as the sun was setting in Texas.

Onlookers cheered as ex-POW Specialist Shoshana Johnson, who was shot in both ankles, was helped to her feet and waved the flags of the United States and Panama, where she was born. The former prisoners were to spend the weekend with their families after receiving a medical evaluation. They seemed in good spirits as they waved flags and exchanged high-fives with people in the crowd as they drove past in an open, electric vehicle.

Spec. Joseph Hudson thanked the crowd, saying, “This means the world to all of us. Remember our fallen soldiers. God bless America,” he said. “This is the happiest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m just so happy they’re home. I’m so proud of them,” said Yolanda Alvarez, who was among those welcoming the soldeirs home. Five of the seven former PoWs are with the 507th Maintenance Company and are stationed at Fort Bliss, near the west Texas city of El Paso.

The two Apache pilots, David Williams and Ronald Young of the the 1st Cavalry Division, travelled to Fort Hood, in central Texas, where they are based. “This makes you almost as nervous as being shot at, but we do really appreciate the support,” Young told the crowd.

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Pictures of the bruised and terrified POWs were beamed around the world by Arab television shortly after their capture, drawing White House warnings of possible war crimes trials against Iraqi military officials if they were harmed.