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Brigade soldiers rescue pair of Iraqi hostages

May-26-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

Link to Full Article
MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune

MOSUL, Iraq – They’ve uncovered caches of enemy weapons and flushed out a variety of shady characters since coming to Iraq last fall.

But the most astonishing find of the war for several Tacoma-area soldiers turned up this week in a secret room behind a bookshelf in a northeast Mosul basement.

Following a tip from an Iraqi source, Stryker troops rescued two handcuffed and hooded citizens from a squalid concrete-block room.

One of the captives was an Iraqi government official who works closely with American forces. He had been missing 58 days, said officials with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division from Fort Lewis.

The other was a wealthy merchant whose family was close to paying a $150,000 ransom, officials said.

Their names have not been released for security reasons.

“To see them reunited with their fellow friends and workers is something I will never forget,” said 1st Brigade commander Col. Bob Brown.

It was the biggest hostage recovery in the area since February, when Iraqi soldiers found the brother of Mosul’s mayor in the trunk of a car near Qayyarah.

Sgt. 1st Class Dave Hoogendorn, a platoon sergeant with the Stryker brigade’s 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, knew right away that Monday’s find was a big deal. His soldiers were even given the next morning off from their patrol duties.

The rest of the article describes the rescue mission.


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