Rank/Branch: Pfc./Army
Unit: 507th Maintenance Company, Fort Bliss, Texas
Date of Birth
Home City of Record: Tuba City, Arizona
Date of Loss: 23 March 2003
Remains recovered and identified - Reported April 04, 2003
Country of Loss: Iraq
Loss Coordinates: An Nasiriyah
Status: MIA
Category:
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Convoy
Other Personnel in Incident: Army Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, 35, El Paso, Texas, Army Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, 38, Cleveland, Army Sgt. James Riley, 31, Pennsauken; N.J., Army Sgt. Donald Walters, 33, Salem, Ore., Army Spc. James Kiehl, 22, Comfort, Texas, Army Pvt. Brandon Sloan, 19, Bedford Heights, Ohio, Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21, of Mission, Texas, Army Pfc Jessica Lynch, 19, of Palestine, West Virginia, Army Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23, Alamogordo, N.M., Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson, 30, Fort Bliss, Texas, Army Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, Park City, Kan,, Army Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, 18, El Paso, Texas.
Source: Compiled by Last Firebase Veterans Archives Project from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Date Updated:
Pfc. Lori Piestewa, a 22-year-old Mother of two, was with a U.S. Army supply convoy that took a wrong turn March 23 and was ambushed by Iraqi soldiers near An Nasiriyah. There has been bitter fighting around Nasiriyah, a vital crossing point of the River Euphrates about 225 miles southeast of Baghdad.
Pfc. Piestewa was among 12 members of the 507th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss, Texas, who are either missing in action or prisoners of war.
Iraqi television video showed five of the captured soldiers. The other seven are unaccounted for. Families have identified the five POWs who range in age from 19 to 31 and come from Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, New Jersey. They were all trained at Fort Bliss as a support unit to supply mechanics to repair the Patriot missile trucks based at the Texas army post.
Families have identified the POWs as Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21, of Mission, Texas; Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23, of Alamogordo, N.M.; Spc. Shoshanna Johnson, 30, of Medina, Texas; Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, of Valley Center, Kan., and Sgt. James Riley, 31, Pennsauken, N.J.
Pfc. Piestewa was not identified as one of the video taped prisoners of war.
She attended Army ROTC in High School, taking after her father who was a Vietnam veteran, and her grandfather - a World War II Vet. Family is important in the Piestewa family.
"It's very important to me knowing that my family is taken care of (while I'm away)," Piestewa told KFOX News on the day of her deployment. "Knowing that they'll be o.k. while I'm out there, and I don't have to worry about anything while I'm out there."
Piestewa has a 4 year old son and 3 year old daughter. At the family's home in Tuba City, Arizona, Lori's brother Wayland remains positive. "She can survive. She knows how to survive. I was more optimistic to know that she wasn't by herself and that's what we were really worried about."
Fort Bliss is about 600 miles west of Fort Hood.
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