Posted on 03/29/2003 7:22:41 PM PST by 11th_VA
Iraq (AP) - A U.S. Marine was captured and put on display in the town of Shatrah, and military officials do not know if he is alive or dead, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
The Marine was captured Friday after a convoy of 200 vehicles heading north on Route 7 toward Baghdad was hit with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine-gun fire while passing through the town.
The Marine was part of an aircraft support squadron. Officials have not released his name.
Shatrah is about 25 miles north of Nasiriya and 160 miles southeast of Baghdad.
Maj. Dave Holahan, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Regiment, 1st Marine Division, told the Times-Dispatch's embedded reporter, Rex Bowman, that the battalion had cleared the town of resistance Thursday.
Early Friday, Holahan said, the Marines drove several lightly armored vehicles through the town to clear a path for the convoy. The vehicles came under attack. The squads killed or drove away the attackers.
But Friday night, as the 200-vehicle convoy drove through, the last vehicles in the convoy came under attack. A 7-ton truck overturned, Holahan said, and Marines raced to fend off the attack and put the truck's occupants in other vehicles.
As they left, he said, they discovered a Marine was missing. Intelligence reports Saturday indicated he had been displayed in the middle of town.
Holahan blamed the attacks on the Republican Guard. "They've got death squads in some of these towns, and that's where we get this resistance."
Holahan said the Marines were still contemplating their response to the attack in Shatrah.
An RAF loadmaster in a Puma helicopter aims his general purpose machine gun at an Iraqi truck as soldiers of the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment carry out vehicle searches for weapons in southern Iraq Sunday, March 30, 2003. Paratroopers patrol the skies and are able to drop a platoon of men onto the road or desert track ahead of a car to facilitate the random stops. (Photo: AP)
Plenty of virgins to go around.
San Luis Marine killed in combat
Yuma Sun
Apr 11, 2003
One day before his picture was to be put on a wall featuring locals serving in the U.S. military, the parents of Marine Sgt. Fernando Padilla-Ramirez of San Luis, Ariz., were told their son was killed in Iraq.
San Luis Police Department officers said they were at thefamily's home Thursday when Marines from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma notified the family of the death.
"This is a very sad thing," said Luis Marquez, of the San Luis Police Department.
The notification comes more than a week after Ramirez, 25, was listed as missing March 29. Officials said Ramirez had been conducting convoy operations in the vicinity of Nasiriyah, Iraq, at the time of his disappearance. A few days later, a search and rescue operation ensued.
He was assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron-371, which provides ground support for Marine aviation squadrons. More than 200 Yuma-based Marines belonging to the squadron deployed to the region the week of Feb. 15.
Since officially listing him as missing, the U.S. Department of Defense has not updated Ramirez's status and no information on the circumstances surrounding his death was available as of Thursday evening.
Marquez said the news of Ramirez's death will undoubtedly bring a somber mood to today's ceremony where officers expect to display photos of the more than 50 San Luis citizens currently serving in the U.S. Military. It is not known how many of those are fighting in Iraq. The ceremony, scheduled for 6 p.m. outside of City Hall, was scheduled before the news of Ramirez's death came.
Marquez said officers are working with a local bank to establish a college fund for Ramirez's two young sons one of whom was born just days before he left for the Gulf region. Ramirez also leaves behind a wife.
San Luis Police Sgt. Ernesto Lugo said the news hit the department especially hard because Ramirez, whose family moved to San Luis from Mexico more than 20 years ago, essentially grew up around the officers since joining the police department's Explorer Club in 1992.
Last year, in his spare time from his duties at MCAS, Ramirez decided to join the reserve police academy and attend training classes at Arizona Western College.
"It's not a good picture here right now," Lugo said. "Everyone is sad."
Mayor Joe Harper said he asked that all flags in San Luis be flown at half-staff in honor of Ramirez's death and said city officials and community members will rush to assist the family in any way they can.
"There's nothing you can do except to tell them everything is going to be OK," Harper said. "But their heart is broken and you have children who will not see their dad again."
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