DETROIT, July 9, 2008
2 Missing Soldiers' Bodies Found In Iraq
Parents Say Sgt. Alex Jimenez, Pvt. Byron W. Fouty Found After Disappearing In Deadly Ambush Year Ago
-
-
In an undated file photo, Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Delta Company, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment is seen near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq. His family said on July 9, 2008 that Fouty's body has been found in Iraq. (AP Photo/ Sgt. Michael Morse, HO)
-
In this undated file photo released by the U.S. Army, Spc. Alex R. Jimenez is seen. The father of Jimenez of Lawrence said his son's body has been found in Iraq. (AP Photo/US Army)
-
-
Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
The father of Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, said the remains of his son and another soldier, Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, of Waterford, Michigan, had been identified in Iraq.
CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports the families of the dead soldiers said they'd been told their sons' bodies were found by Iraqi authorities and identified by dental records.
Jimenez, 25, and Fouty, 19, were kidnapped along with a third member of the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division during an ambush in May 2007 that left several other soldiers dead. The body of the third kidnapped soldier, Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. of Torrance, California, was found in the Euphrates River in May.
Days after the men disappeared al Qaeda in Iraq posted video on the Internet of what it said was an ambush that killed four U.S. and one Iraqi soldier on patrol 20 miles south of baghdad, reports Palmer. The video also showed the identity cards, credit cards and possessions of three more who - the video claimed - had been captured and executed.
Jimenez's father, Ramon "Andy" Jimenez, said uniformed military officials came to his home Thursday to tell him the body of his son and some of his son's personal effects had been discovered. Fouty's stepfather, Gordon Dibler, said military officials also came to his home Thursday to break the news.
Andy Jimenez told The Associated Press through a translator that the news "shattered all hope" the family had to "see Alex walk home on his own."
"Every day that he's been missing has been a day of `what could have been' ... but after hearing the news today ... I'm still in shock," Dibler said.
The soldiers' families, who had become friends over the past year, were notified around the same time and had been in touch. The Pentagon generally waits 24 hours after notifying the next of kin before making a release public.
Lawrence veterans services director Francisco Urena, who was at the Jimenez home Thursday and translated for the soldier's father, said the family was given no details on the discovery of the bodies or the nature of the soldiers' deaths. Dibler said Fouty's body was found in the Iraqi village of Jurf as Sakhr.
Urena said the Jimenez family expected to receive Alex Jimenez's body in five days.
"He's very thankful for everybody from the community in Lawrence and throughout the U.S. who have provided him support during the difficult time the family has been through during the past 14 months," Urena said of Andy Jimenez.
The soldiers were from Company D, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment - nicknamed the "Polar Bears."
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 7
- next
See all 122 CommentsWe may disagree on political issues but we both earned the right to our beliefs. Being a vet makes us all brothers.
Thanks for having my back bro.
You say suit up, why haven''t you joined ? You think it is a great war to support, show some real support.
Sgtrds has never bashed the troops in any manner. He is a fellow veteran. We do not agree on political choices but he has earned the right to his beliefs, as i have mine. We have both been in combat and know the sacrifices made by our brothers who didn''t make it back. Bush and his greed are the cause of this war, nothing else. He doesn''t care about the Iraqui''s having a democracy any more than he cares about the death of these soldiers. You never see a politicians kid in battle except for McCain. I am niot for McCain either but i respect him as a veteran and i respect his sons for serving.
No one! I repeat NO ONE is ever bashing the troops here! I hate this criminal regime that has American by the throat, but I will never blame the troops for what these as*sholes have ordered them to do by invading and occupying Iraq. The troops did as they were told and did a wonderful job, befitting the best trained and equipped Army ion the world. That said, never ever ever DARE to make the mistake that attacking the morons in the White House is the same thing as attacking the troops! NEVER!
You should crawl back under your rock. Bush loves war, it has made him 100 times richer than he already was.
WHEN WILL THE ENDLESS DEATH AND DESTRUCTION BY THE US STOP !!
Lied into Needless War
Hundreds of Thousands shot or blown to bits
HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of Dollars WASTED
FIVE MILES of end-to-end US Troop COFFINS
War Profiteers, Haliburton, Blackwater, Abu Gharib, Secret Renditions....
Tax Cuts for the Rich! $4/gal gas for the rest of us
Good jobs exported overseas
Corporate Welfare in the BILLIONS
Corporate Lobbyists writing our Laws
Deregulate Banking -- Housing Foreclosure MESS
and on and on and on and on.....
WANT MORE OF THE SAME? VOTE FOR JOHN McCAIN
Posted by cornbiker at 06:56 PM : Jul 11, 2008
Dumbas*s redneck.
Posted by cornbiker at 06:54 PM : Jul 11, 2008
The pentagon called a news conference a few months ago to show off all of the Iranian weapons that were being used against our troops. Trouble is they had to cancel it when they realized that they have not found even one single one. NOT ONE! Or do you think the Pentagon is lying to us?
Posted by hadenough43 at 06:34 PM : Jul 11, 2008
Bush and Cheney used our troops the same way a bank robber uses a gun, to steal and to kill with. That''s it. They''ve become the weapons of criminals in the White House.
Posted by cornbiker
----------------------
Yea, I know you have to "believe" that. Believers always need something to cling to. Without it, the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.
One little question. What was the last casualty count amoung Iragi civilians, children, and women who would probably be alive today if we had not invaded?
Seems like I heard a quarter of a million the other day. I could be wrong, tho
POINT PROVEN..
Posted by cornbiker at 06:27 PM : Jul 11, 2008
And oh dumbas*s, this is a message blog, not a chat room (you know, where you go to get laid by young boys). People here come and go as they please and not by your schedule. besides I was busy giving my dogs a bath. I have to do that once in awhile to wash the Bush and Cheney off from their as*s!
Posted by cornbiker
-------------------
There ain''t no such thing as "the rules". They play by their rules, we play by ours. Or at least we like to tell ourselves that we do. Ever hear of Abu-Gharib?
Posted by cornbiker at 06:01 PM : Jul 11, 2008
Yes he did kill his own people, with chemical weapons WE sold to him. No the Iranians and Syrians are not supplying weapons or troops (though possibly some money) to the insurgents in Iraq. That claim has already been disproved by the Pentagon. No we are not trying to set up a democracy in Iraq, we are trying to force a US puppet government on them when they don''t want it which is WHY they are killing our soldiers! This was not a war, it was an invasion, occupation and oppression by the US on a nation that was NO threat to us, simply becuase war is very very very profitable. That''s it. That''s the reason. Money!
What a maroon!
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 7
- next
See all 122 Comments