Posted on 06/07/2002 10:34:57 PM PDT by HAL9000
ZAMBOANGA – A wounded Filipino soldier recalled Saturday a heartrending sight of two US missionary hostages he found moments after a battle with Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines. Gracia Burnham, wearing a black sweatshirt and gray trainer pants, sat slumped on the forest floor beside a hammock amid heavy rain, crying silently beside her dead husband Martin Burnham. "Martin lay prone beside her," Army Scout Ranger Rodelio Tuazon told AFP beside his hospital bed here, recalling Friday's bloody military operation near the town of Sirawai. "She knew he was dead."He recalled the woman asking "if we got Sabaya," referring to senior Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya, who has acted as spokesman for the ruthless guerrilla group in the couple's 376 days of captivity.
Tuazon asked her "if he is the long haired one," referring to a dead rebel whose blood-spattered remains lay nearby. "No, in the green tent," Gracia Burnham told him.
Tuazon checked the tent, but it was empty except for an abandoned M-16 assault rifle.
Tuazon, himself wounded, noticed that the 43 year-old mother of three was bleeding from a leg wound, and he applied a tourniquet.
The first military unit on the scene attempted several times to administer intravenous medical aid on the wounded American, but the rain foiled their best efforts.
In the end, the soldiers radioed their base to ask for medical evacuation, and five soldiers carried the woman to the top of a nearby hill where troops had secured a landing zone.
Tuazon, whose own foot was fractured by a grenade explosion, was one of seven soldiers who received a Purple Heart medal at a military hospital in recognition of their role in the operation.
The fighting led to the death of two hostages, Martin Burnham and Filipina nurse Ediborah Yap, as well as four Abu Sayyaf rebels. None of the four has been identified.
I just read this in the CNN-linked article, noted above.
A premonition of violence had led Martin Burnham to wirte a letter several days ago to his three children, a senior Philippine military official said. That letter was recovered after the rescue.
Imagine what a comfort that letter will be to his children, and to his wife.
238 posted on 6/7/02 10:01 PM Pacific by GretchenEE
If this couple had been married journalists their picture and numerous background, human-interest stories would be on every magagine and newspaper cover in the country. The press will lose interest in the Burnham story by tomorrow.
You know, I thought that for most of the time they were being held. I was rather disgusted at the lack of coverage of the Burnhams and Mrs. Yap.
However, I recently came to the conclusion that if their story had been treated in the same way as Daniel Pearl, they might have been killed almost immediately.
The Left has insured a slow death for the Philippines by successfully demonizing then ousting Marcos, closing our military bases at Clark etc. and changing their Constitution to say that if foreign troops are permitted to fight on their soil the President must be impeached.
Good luck with them murdering Islamists, geniuses.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.