U.S. contractor makes dash to freedom in Iraq

By Lee Keath
The Associated Press

ASSOCIATED PRESS, APRIL 2004 FILE Thomas Hamill is shown in video taken April 9, when he was captured.

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Hamill, 43, a former dairy farmer from Macon, Miss., identified himself to the soldiers and then led them back to his Iraqi captors, two of whom were captured.

Hamill, a truck driver for a Halliburton subsidiary, escaped more than three weeks after being captured April 9 by gunmen who blasted his convoy on the outskirts of Baghdad. A U.S. soldier captured in the same attack remains missing, and at least four of Hamill's co-workers were killed.

Hamill had not been heard from since the day after the attack, when his captors released a video of him standing in front of an Iraqi flag and threatened to kill him within 12 hours unless the United States ended its siege of Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad. Hamill's escape came after Marines started pulling back from Fallujah, but there were no indications his captors let him go.

Hamill's wife, Kellie, was called early yesterday and told about his escape and later spoke to her husband.

"He sounded wonderful, so wonderful. He said he was fine," she said from their Mississippi home. "He said he was more worried about his mom, his grandmother, me and our kids."

Hamill was discovered at about 11:15 a.m. local time when he approached a patrol from the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry, part of the New York National Guard, in the town of Balad, about 50 miles north of where he was captured.

Kellie Hamill said her husband said he was locked in a building and heard the troops driving by. He "pried the door open. He said he ran half-a-mile down the road and caught up with the convoy."

"Isn't that something?"

	ROGELIO SOLIS / AP Kellie Hamill, wife of Thomas Hamill, hugs a friend before services yesterday at Calvary Baptist Church in Macon, Miss. She attended services with her family, shortly after being told her husband had safely escaped from his Iraq captors.

Hamill had an infected gunshot wound in his left arm and was flown by helicopter to Baghdad, said Maj. Neal O'Brien, a spokesman for U.S. troops in nearby Tikrit. The video images of Hamill soon after his capture showed his left arm in a sling, suggesting he was wounded during the attack on his convoy.

"He has spoken to his family. He is now ready to get back to work," U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said in Baghdad.

Hamill's captivity may produce important intelligence for U.S. forces trying to determine the size, strength and tactics of a potent resistance. How his captors moved him could provide clues about how the insurgency operates in the restive region north of the capital.

"He is providing information to the U.S. military at this time," Kimmitt said. "I'm sure over the hours and days ahead, we will find out all the details."

In a statement on its Web site, Halliburton said, "Tommy is a courageous hero and we are proud of his resolve, resilience and refusal to give up hope."

Hamill's capture came at the height of the wave of captures and kidnappings of foreigners sparked by the intense violence that began a month ago. Up to 40 people from several nations were taken, though most were later freed. One, an Italian, was executed by his captors.

A U.S. soldier, Pfc. Keith Maupin, apparently remains in the hands of his captors. Maupin, who grew up near Batavia, Ohio, and Hamill were in the same convoy that was ambushed.

Hamill, who went to Iraq to earn money to pay off debts, was filmed as he was being captured. The insurgents allowed an Australian camera crew to film him in the back seat of the gunmen's car. Hamill identified himself before the car sped off.

The next day, the Arab television station Al Jazeera showed the video of Hamill standing in front of an Iraqi flag.

Hamill's father, Leo, said he fell asleep Saturday night in Macon while watching a television newscast and woke yesterday to church programming being interrupted by a bulletin reporting his son's escape.

"I knew when I saw him on TV, I knew it was him," the teary-eyed father said. "I hoped they would return him safe."

Promising to "grab and hug his neck" upon his son's return, Leo Hamill raised his hands skyward and proclaimed yesterday "a beautiful day."

President Bush learned of Hamill's escape yesterday morning.

"It's great news for all Americans, and the president is happy for Mr. Hamill and family," White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said.

Hamill's 92-year-old grandmother, Vera Hamill, who also lives in Macon, a town of about 2,500 people, said he had told her before he went to work in Iraq not to worry about him. "I just want to thank everybody around the world who have been praying for him," she said. "Now I just hope those others can come home."

Mayor Dorothy Baker Hines said she told Kellie Hamill that as soon as her husband is back "we're going to have a parade that will not end."

Material from The Washington Post is included in this report.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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