IRAQ: U.S.SOLDIERS IN TIKRIT HOLD A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR TWO COLLEAGUES KILLED THIS WEEK BY IRAQI GUERRILLAS.

Record ID: 647517

  • Title: IRAQ: U.S.SOLDIERS IN TIKRIT HOLD A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR TWO COLLEAGUES KILLED THIS WEEK BY IRAQI GUERRILLAS.
  • Date: 16th October 2003
  • Summary: (W4) TIKRIT, IRAQ (OCTOBER 16, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. MV: SOLDIERS LINED UP WITH TWO RIFLES STANDING ON THE GROUND WITH HELMETS PLACED ON THEM. (IN FOREGROUND) 0.05 2. HAS/WS: BOMB MEMORIAL CEREMONY TAKING PLACE. 0.09 3. MV: SOLDIER PAYING HIS LAST RESPECTS BY LAYING MEDALS ON MEMORIAL. 0.22 4. MV: U.S. BRAVO COMPANY SALUTING. 0.26 5. CU: SOLIDER CRYING. 0.30 6. LAS/MV: SOLDIERS FIRING A GUN-SALUTE. 0.36 7. MLV: SOLDIERS MARCHING UP TO MEMORIAL TO PAY RESPECTS. 0.40 8. CU: DOG TAGS. 0.45 9. MV: SOLDIERS PAYING LAST RESPECTS, SALUTING AT MEMORIAL. 0.57 10. WS: SOLDIER SALUTING WITH HIS FIST AT MEMORIAL, THEN WALKS AWAY. 1.06 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 31st October 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TIKRIT, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAAL425KYCTGQD22ZVQLUECHZ1K
  • Story Text: U.S. soldiers in Tikrit have held a memorial
    service for colleagues who died this week.



    About 200 U.S. soldiers on Thursday (October 15)
    paid their last respects to two comrades killed this week
    by Iraqi guerrillas.

    Specialists James Powell, 26, of Mark Center, Ohio, and
    Donald Wheeler Jr., 22, of Concord, Michigan, were killed
    in attacks in or near Tikrit, about 130 km (80 miles) north
    of Baghdad and the hometown of ousted dictator Saddam
    Hussein.

    Troops in combat gear stood in ranks for the half-hour
    service held outside a former Saddam palace now used as a
    U.S. base. At an altar with U.S. and battalion flags, two
    M-16 rifles were stuck in the ground, helmets over the
    butts and two pairs of Army boots before each weapon.

    A soldier sang "America the Beautiful", "Amazing Grace"
    and "The Old Rugged Cross" and a chaplain recited the 23rd
    Psalm. In a posthumous awards ceremony, officers laid
    Purple Hearts and Bronze Star medals along with Combat
    Infantryman badges and wartime service insignia on the
    altar.

    Powell, married with a daughter, was killed on Sunday
    (October 12) near Bayji, about 30 km (20 miles) north of
    Tikrit. The driver of a Bradley fighting vehicle, he died
    when his vehicle struck a mine during an ambush.

    Wheeler, one of a family of 14, joined the Army
    immediately after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the
    United States. A Bradley gunner, he was killed on Monday
    (October 13) in Tikrit when the vehicle was hit by a
    rocket-propelled grenade.

    Major General Raymond Odierno, commander of the
    27,000-strong Task Force Ironhorse and head of the Fourth
    Infantry Division, laid small division medallions for
    excellence on the altar.

    He told reporters that soldiers' morale remained good
    despite persistent guerrilla attacks.


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