Cal Guard unit hit in Iraq ambush

Antelope Valley Press ^ | July 24, 2003 | VALLEY PRESS STAFF

[BenLurkin]

TIKRIT, Iraq - Troops from the California National Guard running truck convoys in Operation Iraqi Freedom encountered an ambush that resulted in wounds to one sergeant and less serious injuries to two other soldiers.

A convoy from the 1498th Transportation Company was leaving Tikrit Airport on Sunday when one of the vehicles in the convoy struck a mine, witnesses at the scene said. The explosion, coupled with a secondary explosion, resulted in a vehicle fire that caused the loss of the heavy equipment transportation truck.

Exiting the stricken vehicle, Staff Sgt. Anthony Arrington, 36, suffered burns. They were described as nonlife-threatening injuries. He has been evacuated to Germany for treatment. Two other soldiers, Spcs. Kerry Burks, 25, and Steve Newell, 22, suffered less serious injuries and were returned to their base at Camp Victory, an Army report said.

The home towns of the soldiers hurt in the ambush were not immediately known. Burks and Newell, attended by the company's combat life savers, were sent to Tikrit Airbase for treatment.

The convoy, commanded by Lt. Paul Peterlin, returned fire into a building where small-arms fire was coming from. Four wounded individuals exited the building and surrendered to convoy troops.

Armor and infantry from U.S. forces arrived along with AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, bringing a respite to the hostile fire.

As the convoy reconsolidated and prepared to move away from the ambush area two miles north of Tikrit Airbase, more small-arms fire erupted from a building. Peterlin directed fire on the building, then moved a clearing force into it. The clearing force recovered weapons and ammunition.

About a third of the 250-plus troops in the 1498th Transportation Company are from the Antelope Valley. Other major components of the unit are from the Sacramento and San Bernardino-Riverside areas.

The company commander, Capt. Matthew R. Hook, could not immediately be reached for comment at the unit's base in Kuwait.

Kathy Clelland-Hillyer, a family support volunteer with the Riverside-San Bernardino contingent, said contact with the unit would be necessary to secure hometown information. Her husband, Staff Sgt. David Hillyer, was in Iraq at the time of the ambush, but not with the convoy that was hit.

"I am just so proud of him," she said. "I am so proud of what they are all doing, and what they all represent."

The 1498th Transporation Company is California's statewide contribution to Operation Iraqi Freedom. The unit runs combat support convoys across the length and breadth of Iraq, with many of the convoys passing through the areas known as "ambush alleys" in the Sunni Triangle north of Baghdad, where there has been festering support for the remnants of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Hillyer was at an airfield where the bodies of Odai and Qusai Hussein were transported, his wife said.

"He said the real good news was that none of our guys were injured," she said. "That tells you something about our thinking. He wasn't saying, 'Oh, we're glad those guys are dead.' He was thinking about our guys not getting hurt."

Several American soldiers were injured during the attack on the home where the sons of Saddam were barricaded, but their wounds were not life-threatening.

The California Guard unit has been in Kuwait and Iraq since shortly after May 1, dubbed the end of "major combat operations."

"There is still a war going on," Clelland-Hillyer said.

- Dennis Anderson

[Bob J]

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[TheDon]

The convoy, commanded by Lt. Paul Peterlin, returned fire into a building where small-arms fire was coming from. Four wounded individuals exited the building and surrendered to convoy troops.