U.S. Army Apache helicopter pilots Chief Warrant Officer David S.  Williams, 30, of Orlando, Fla. and Chief Warrant Officer Ronald D.  Young Jr., 26, of Lithia Springs, Ga, who had been held as POW's  by Iraqi forces when their helicopter was forced down March 23 during heavy fighting are escorted on to a waiting C-130 transport plane,  Sunday, April 13, 2003, 60 miles south of Baghdad.  (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

KUWAIT CITY - Unexpectedly released by Iraqi troops, seven U.S. POWs basked in a warm welcome Sunday and were declared in good shape after their 22 days of imprisonment.  The seven were flown to Kuwait within hours after Marines recovered them south of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. Three were examined for injuries; the other four were assessed and found to have no problems, said Army Lt. Col. Ruth Lee.  The soldiers received applause and hugs by Marines when they arrived at an air base in southern Iraq.From there, the seven were taken by helicopter to a base near Kut and then flown to a military airport south of Kuwait City.

"Today's a great day for the families and comrades and loved ones of the seven ... who are free," President Bush said in Washington. 

Marine pilots who evacuated the POWs from Iraq said Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson, 30, of Fort Bliss, Texas, had been shot in the ankle, and Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21, of Mission, Texas, had been shot in the elbow. 

Johnson, the only woman among the freed prisoners, had limped in slippers on her way to a transport aircraft after her rescue and wore a bandage on her ankle. 

They - along with Sgt. James Riley, 31, Pennsauken, N.J., Army Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23, Alamogordo, N.M., and Army Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, Park City, Kan. - were all members of the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company. The five were taken prisoner when Iraqis ambushed their convoy March 23 outside the southern city of Nasiriyah. 

The other POWs were Chief Warrant Officer Ronald D. Young Jr., 26, and Chief Warrant Officer David S. Williams, 30, of Orlando, Fla. Their Apache helicopter was forced down in central Iraq, also on March 23. 
 

Shortly after their capture early in the war, the seven had been shown on Iraq's state-run television - giving a human face to the peril confronting American troops.  After their release, Young's father, back in Lithia Springs, Ga., watched shaky video footage of his son on CNN. "It's him, and I'm just so happy that I could kiss the world!" Ronald Young Sr. said. "It's him! It's definitely him."  "They look to be in pretty good condition ... all giving the thumbs up," said Col. Larry Brown, operations officer for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.  When the seven arrived at the military base near Kut, some were wearing blue-and-white striped pajamas, another was in blue shorts. Marines at the base came forward to pat them on the back.  President Bush, who spent the weekend at Camp David, Md., was told Sunday morning of the freed captives.  Capt. David Romley said Marines marching north toward Tikrit were met by Iraqi soldiers north of Samarra who approached the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Company and had the seven Americans with them.

Former POW Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson, 30,  center, is escorted by US soldiers to a waiting C-130 transport plane at an air base, Sunday,  April 13, 2003. Johnson was with a convoy of the  507th Maintenance Company that was ambushed  March 23 in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

"We go to every effort to recover any of the Marines or any of our soldiers taken captive," Romley said. 

In Washington, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Iraqis told U.S. troops they would find the seven missing soldiers at a location about four or five miles south of Tikrit. "They said, 'You should go get them,' and they did," Rumsfeld said. 

When Marine combat headquarters got news that the missing had been found, the troops applauded - rare in combat operations, Murphy said. 

"You could feel the happiness and excitement in the combat operations center," he said. 

Pentagon officials are committed to tracking down all soldiers still missing or captured since the spectacular rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch on April 1. 

Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. forces, underscored his commitment to rescuing coalition captives although he said he didn't think that all POWs and MIAs could be recovered. 

"I don't think we could predict that at all," he told Fox TV. "I think it would be a true blessing if we were able to do that, and I don't think we ... can count on it. 

"But I can tell you this: Even though we can't count on it, we can work at them hard. And we have been, and we will," Franks added. 

Officials had been sounding an upbeat note in recent days, saying more Iraqis were willing to talk and share secrets about potential POW sightings now that Saddam's henchmen are gone. 

Lynch, who was rescued April 1 from a hospital in Nasiriyah after an Iraqi civilian tipped soldiers off, became the first POW to return home Saturday. 

"This morning our family joins America in rejoicing over the news of the safe return of seven brave heroes to U.S. military custody in Iraq," Lynch's family said in a statement Sunday. "This is certainly an answer to our prayers and - we're certain - the prayers of literally millions of other concerned citizens of the world."