News Article
By: Dr. GRAHAM LEONARD/Special to The Greeneville Sun
Source: The Greeneville Sun
03-22-2005
Editor’s note: Graham Leonard, a 79-year old retired educator with extensive experience in the Middle East, is embedded with the 2nd Squadron of the 278th Regimental Combat Team near Kirkuk, Iraq. Leonard provided this report today by email to The Greeneville Sun.
On Palm Sunday morning while officers and men of the 2nd Squadron of the 278th Regimental Combat Team (2/278th) worshipped in Peacemaker Chapel at their Tuz Forward Operating Base (FOB) Bernstein, a massive road bomb destroyed a huge supply truck near Kirkuk, killing one soldier of the Tennessee Peacemakers and seriously injuring four others.
Spc. Paul William Thomason III of Jefferson City, commander of the supply truck, died almost instantly. Sitting next to Thomason, the driver was very seriously injured. Four men returning from Rest and Recreation leave were thrown from the back of the truck and seriously injured. Small arms fire was returned, killing one and wounding another of the attackers and possible detonators of the bomb.
Helicopters, ambulances and QRF (Quick Reaction Force) from nearby FOB Warrior in Kirkuk arrived on the scene in a few minutes. The driver was air-evacuated to Germany for surgery, and the others were treated at Warrior or at Speicher air base in Tikrit, origin of the supply convoy.
A memorial ceremony for Spc. Thomason was held at FOB Bernstein at 1400 (2 p.m.) on Tuesday (6 a.m. in East Tennessee).
Spc. Thomason, of the 2/278th’s HHT (Headquarters and Headquarters Troop) served the 2/278th as liaison between FOB Bernstein, near Tuz, Iraq, and the division headquarters an hour and a half west at Tikrit.
Due to heavy rains, the direct road across a reservoir between Tikrit and Tuz was flooded and impassable.
Over three feet of water covers the causeway and bridge across the reservoir. Winter rains have been unusually heavy, and the water is badly needed for irrigation in the coming dry season.
On Friday, a convoy of Humvees barely made it across westward, and it was declared impassable. That convoy and the supply convoy on Sunday, therefore, used a longer route to the north via Kirkuk.
Coalition forces were aware that trouble was brewing in Kirkuk over the question of returning the thousands of Kurds displaced with Sunni Arabs by the Saddam Hussein regime. Control of [the] oil-rich Kirkuk area is at stake and holding up the forming of an Iraqi interim government following the Jan. 30 elections.
Three Iraqi police officers were killed on Friday at the funeral of an officer killed the day before.
Extra precautions were taken for all convoys using that route to Warrior or to Tuz. The Palm Sunday convoy had trucks of supplies for both bases.
Not far before Kirkuk and just after a new Iraqi Army checkpoint a few hundred yards before the road bomb, the convoy had stopped to tighten loose cargo.
They formed into a defensive square. Perhaps that gave the detonators of a bomb planted unseen under the pavement [an opportunity] to single out the one truck carrying personnel.
As the cab of that truck carrying Spc. Thomason came over the bomb, it was detonated, leaving a hole 9 feet by 12 feet and 3 feet deep.
The very large and heavily armored truck carrying Thomason was thrown off the highway onto its side.
It was later estimated by demolition experts that at least 200 pounds of explosives were used in the bomb. The trigger was likely a small two-way radio converted to a detonator device.
Large 155-mm artillery shells are often used for such roadside bombs. Thousands of such shells have been discovered concealed all over Iraq and many thousands more are not accounted for.
The 2/278th soldiers have detected, detonated and/or returned to FOB Bernstein and destroyed dozens of such shells and other Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). It is almost impossible to find them all.
This complex attack on the combined supply convoy included the massive bomb and a smaller one detonated shortly afterward 50 feet away but without injuries to men or vehicles.
The attackers also fired on the soldiers in the truck. The guardsmen returned fire, killing one of the attackers and wounding another, who was taken prisoner. This kind of near-suicidal attack is new to the area.
The driver, Spc. Anthony Lambert of Greeneville (190th Engineer Company, Morristown), was the most severely wounded of the survivors. He sustained two broken ankles, broken ribs and had one lung punctured by a rib.
Within a few hours, Lambert was in Germany for surgery and bone repair. Spc. Dennis Holt of Ashland City, Tenn., was thrown off the back of the truck and suffered a broken foot.
Spc. David Orlandini of Maryville, and Spc. Shawn Hall of Telford, both suffered injuries from the initial explosion.
Holt and Orlandini are members of Troop E, based in Newport. Hall is also with the 190th Engineer Company.
Captain Douglas Dunlap, 50th Main Support Battalion, commander of the convoy, said, "Spc. Hall while still in the damaged vehicle returned fire with his weapon even though he was bleeding badly from a head wound" that eventually took 12 stitches to close.
"After the exchange of fire ceased, he continued to move around the site rendering assistance wherever needed," Capt. Dunlap continued.
Spc. Orlandini suffered a badly broken foot.
"Refusing medical attention, Orlandini, a medic, made his way to the side of Spc. Thomason,” the captain said. “Even though he was in obvious pain, he continued and used his medical skills to assist those who had suffered more serious injuries."
Spc. Orlandini assisted with CPR on Thomason for approximately 30 minutes, until Medevac arrived and pronounced him dead.
Capt. Dunlap added, "Both soldiers were injured in the initial blast, were targeted by small arms fire and were in the vicinity of the secondary blast. With their injuries both soldiers could have chosen to take cover and wait for medical assistance, however, they both made the decision to stay in the fight and complete the mission."
All communications other than official from and to all 278th bases were shut down until it was confirmed that Spc. Thomason’s relatives had been officially informed. Email This Story To A Friend
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