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American Morning
Happy Homecoming
Aired April 18, 2003 - 08:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get to perhaps the best story of the day. A happy homecoming could come as early as Saturday for the seven U.S. soldiers who were held for almost three weeks as prisoners of war in Iraq. This was an image from Landstuhl earlier today. This morning, six of the seven appeared on a balcony at the military hospital there in Germany. A relative of one of the seven says they will fly from Ramstein Airbase in Germany to Ft. Hood, Texas. That could happen as early as Saturday.
Meantime, back in Germany, Matthew Chance is standing by. He was there to see what turned to you to be a rather brief statement and brief appearance nonetheless. They looked like they were smiling and happy in the sunshine there.
Matthew, hello.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you as well, Bill. That's right. In fact, it was all seven, I think, all seven, in fact, appeared on that balcony together, apparently in very good spirits. Even Shoshana Johnson, who was very badly injured when her 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed outside of Nasiriyah, shot through the ankle, she was on that balcony being supported by two of her comrades from the 507th Maintenance Company on either side of her.
Physically, all seven are said to be making very good recoveries. Three of them are recovering from gunshot wounds and recovering very well from them. There was, as you mentioned, a short statement coming from Warrant Officer David Williams, who was the pilot of the Apache helicopter gunship shot down on March 24th -- well, not shot down, but came down under hostile fire, just south of Baghdad. It was the first statement from any of the former prisoners of war since they came to Germany, and he was speaking for all seven.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CWO DAVID S. WILLIAMS, FMR. POW: I'd like to take a brief moment to let everyone know that we're receiving outstanding medical care, and I'd like to thank all of my fellow Americans. We all would like to thank our Americans for the tremendous support we've been getting, and we're looking forward to coming home as soon as we possibly can. I'd just like to remind everyone to say a special prayer for all of those who are still fighting on the American fence, OK? And god bless America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: So words from comrades still out in the Iraqi theater. One of the big concerns with people or soldiers who have been through this kind of ordeal is prisoners of war is the possibility of psychological damage, because of that possibility, we're told by the doctors here, that specialist combat psychologists have been carrying out their therapy on all seven of these people, talking through their experiences. It's not clear to us yet exactly what situation they had to endure when they were in captivity, but we know for sure they were paraded on Iraqi Television and subjected to questioning by Iraqi journalists. That certainly outraged the U.S. authorities. We're told that that psychological treatment will continue once they're back home in the States.
HEMMER: Ft. Hood awaits, a very big party, sometime very soon over the weekend.
Matthew, thanks. Matthew Chance in Germany.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 18, 2003 - 08:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get to perhaps the best story of the day. A happy homecoming could come as early as Saturday for the seven U.S. soldiers who were held for almost three weeks as prisoners of war in Iraq. This was an image from Landstuhl earlier today. This morning, six of the seven appeared on a balcony at the military hospital there in Germany. A relative of one of the seven says they will fly from Ramstein Airbase in Germany to Ft. Hood, Texas. That could happen as early as Saturday.
Meantime, back in Germany, Matthew Chance is standing by. He was there to see what turned to you to be a rather brief statement and brief appearance nonetheless. They looked like they were smiling and happy in the sunshine there.
Matthew, hello.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you as well, Bill. That's right. In fact, it was all seven, I think, all seven, in fact, appeared on that balcony together, apparently in very good spirits. Even Shoshana Johnson, who was very badly injured when her 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed outside of Nasiriyah, shot through the ankle, she was on that balcony being supported by two of her comrades from the 507th Maintenance Company on either side of her.
Physically, all seven are said to be making very good recoveries. Three of them are recovering from gunshot wounds and recovering very well from them. There was, as you mentioned, a short statement coming from Warrant Officer David Williams, who was the pilot of the Apache helicopter gunship shot down on March 24th -- well, not shot down, but came down under hostile fire, just south of Baghdad. It was the first statement from any of the former prisoners of war since they came to Germany, and he was speaking for all seven.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CWO DAVID S. WILLIAMS, FMR. POW: I'd like to take a brief moment to let everyone know that we're receiving outstanding medical care, and I'd like to thank all of my fellow Americans. We all would like to thank our Americans for the tremendous support we've been getting, and we're looking forward to coming home as soon as we possibly can. I'd just like to remind everyone to say a special prayer for all of those who are still fighting on the American fence, OK? And god bless America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: So words from comrades still out in the Iraqi theater. One of the big concerns with people or soldiers who have been through this kind of ordeal is prisoners of war is the possibility of psychological damage, because of that possibility, we're told by the doctors here, that specialist combat psychologists have been carrying out their therapy on all seven of these people, talking through their experiences. It's not clear to us yet exactly what situation they had to endure when they were in captivity, but we know for sure they were paraded on Iraqi Television and subjected to questioning by Iraqi journalists. That certainly outraged the U.S. authorities. We're told that that psychological treatment will continue once they're back home in the States.
HEMMER: Ft. Hood awaits, a very big party, sometime very soon over the weekend.
Matthew, thanks. Matthew Chance in Germany.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
