On Point: the United States Army in Operation Iraqi ... - Boekje Pienter

Figure 87. The 507th Maintenance Company ambush summary 28(The highlighed numbers depict actual locations where vehicles were left)passed Miller’s 5-ton wrecker and ordered him to pick up speed and keep moving. Soonafterward, an Iraqi round, possibly an RPG, struck Dowdy’s HMMWV. Private First ClassPiestewa lost control and crashed into the rear end of Specialist Hernandez’s 5-ton tractortrailer.The redoubtable First Sergeant Dowdy died on impact. Piestewa, seriously injured, diedafter capture. Anguiano and Buggs died as well, like Piestewa, under circumstances that remainunclear. Alive but unconscious, Lynch remained in the wreck. 30Iraqi fire stopped Private First Class Miller’s wrecker some 400 meters north of where FirstSergeant Dowdy died. Private Sloan, whom Miller had picked up minutes earlier, was killed atthis time. Miller and Sergeant Riley moved south to assist Dowdy and the soldiers with him.Riley, now the senior man, took charge and attempted to organize a defense but had little towork with. Private First Class Johnson and Specialist Hernandez were wounded, so he hadthem take cover. No one in Dowdy’s HMMWV could help, and Riley couldn’t get a weapon tofire consistently. With no good options, Riley elected to surrender. Miller apparently made hisway away from the scene and continued to fight until he too was surrounded and compelled tosurrender. 31Farther south, Specialist Joseph Hudson and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Johnny Matamaneuvered their 10-ton wrecker past several obstacles and a tank. They reached as far southas the edge of the city before Iraqi fire brought them to a stop. Mata died soon after, killed bymultiple rounds after the vehicle stopped. The Iraqis pulled the wounded Hudson from hisvehicle and took him captive. The remaining two vehicles of the 507th did not make it quite asfar south. Private First Class Howard Johnson and Private Ruben Estrella-Soto were drivinga 5-ton tractor-trailer. They, along with Specialist Jamaal Addison and Specialist James Kiehltraveling in a 5-ton truck, were killed just north of where the Iraqis killed Mata. 32 159