Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Sunday, March 20, 2005
Section:Nation/World

By Edward Lee Pittsbr> Military Affairs

BALAD RUZ, Iraq -- A medic with the 278th Regimental Combat Team said a boy originally believed to have died during an election day mortar attack last January survived and recovered at a U.S. Air Force hospital in Balad Ruz, Iraq.

Capt. David Lutz, 38, of Dickson, Tenn., and a physician assistant with the regiment's 3rd Squadron, said the Jan. 30 attack at a Qara Tapa marketplace caused a life-threatening open skull fracture on the small boy.

Capt. Lutz of the 278 th medical support team stationed near the town for election day requested helicopter assistance, and the boy was flown to the hospital about an hour after the attack.

After hearing radio reports and statements from 278th doctors back at Forward Operating Base Cobra claiming the boy had died, Capt. Lutz called the hospital to check on the boy's condition. He said doctors there confirmed the boy survived and was breathing on his own.

U.S. military doctors performed brain surgery to repair the skull fracture by inserting a metal plate, Capt. Lutz said.

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

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