American POWs in the 2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq , which lasted from March 20 – May 1 , 2003 , resulted in a small number of American and Coalition POWs . 507th ' s wrong turn . A majority of the prisoners of war were captured from the ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company when a convoy of vehicles got lost and entered the Iraqi - held town of Nasiriyah on March 23 , 2003 . The 507th supported actual combat troops , but were not combat troops themselves , and were therefore ill equipped for fighting . As a result of this the 507th quickly surrendered after all their weapons jammed . The following soldiers were captured by Iraqi forces : Capture . When they surrendered , they feared the worst . Miller held out little hope for mercy . " I thought they were going to kill me , " he said . " That was the first thing I asked when they captured me : ' Are you going to kill me ? ' They said no . . . . I still didn ' t believe them . " Iraqi TV Interview . Soon after their capture , Jessica Lynch was taken to an Iraqi hospital due to her serious injuries . The other five POWs did not know about Lynch surviving until after they were released . After their capture , the five remaining members of the ambushed 507th would become famous as bloody and beaten . They were then interviewed by Iraq TV , and the footage was shown world wide by Al Jazeera . In the interview , Private First Class Patrick Miller was asked why he came to Iraq ; his reply was " I come to fix broke stuff . " Asked if he came to shoot Iraqis , he answered , " No , I come to shoot only if I am shot at . They don ' t bother me , I don ' t bother them . " Two More Makes Eight . On March 24 , they were joined by Chief Warrant Officers David Williams , 31 , and Ronald Young Jr . , 26 , whose Apache chopper , from the 1 - 227 Helicopter Attack Battalion , had been shot down in central Iraq that day . Moved Around . The prisoners were taken to Baghdad , where they were isolated in separate cells of a drab prison with concrete walls and a tin roof . As American troops got closer , the soldiers were shuffled from building to building . The Iraqi captors worked feverishly to stay one step ahead of the advancing units . Rescue . As it became clear that the war was over for the Iraqis , some of their captors approached a Marine unit from the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion , Delta Co . , 3rd Platoon which was a part of Task Force Tripoli that had been pushing up toward Tikrit , Saddam Hussein ' s hometown . A Marine battalion was sent to check on the intelligence and found the seven POWs with a confused Iraqi guard unit , whose officers had fled . On April 13 , 2003 , 21 days after the 507th members were captured , the Force Recon Marines burst in on the Iraqi guards who gave up without a fight . Ordering everyone on the floor , a Marine gave an order to " stand up if you ' re American ! " Given dirty prison clothes and fed little food , the prisoners lost a lot of weight and with their garb , and beards they looked like Iraqis . " At first , " Spc . Shoshana Johnson remembers that , " they didn ' t realize I was American . They said , ' Get down , get down , ' and one of them said , ' No , she ' s American . ' " Within hours , the seven were on their way to Kuwait International Airport inside a Marine Corps KC - 130 transport plane , the first stop before the United States . Amid sobs , cheers and laughter , they told their stories to two reporters accompanying them on the flight . " I broke down . I was like , ' Oh my God , I ' m home , ' " Johnson said . War crimes . During the 2003 invasion of Iraq , Iraqi Saddam Fedayeen irregular forces were involved in executing several Coalition prisoners of war . Sergeant Donald Walters was initially reported to have been killed in the March 23 ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company . However , witnesses later reported that they had seen Walters being guarded by several Fedayeen in front of a building . Forensics work later found Walters ' blood in front of the building and blood spatter suggesting he died from two gunshot wounds to the back at close range . This led the Army to conclude that Walters had been executed after being captured . Also on March 23 , a British Army engineering unit made a wrong turn near the town of Az Zubayr , which was still held by Iraqi forces . The unit was ambushed and Sapper Luke Allsopp and Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth became separated from the rest . Both were captured and executed by Iraqi forces . In 2006 , a video of Allsopp lying on the ground surrounded by Iraqi irregular forces was discovered . Marine Sergeant Fernando Padilla - Ramirez was reported missing from his supply unit after an ambush north of Nasiriyah on March 28 . His body was later dragged through the streets of Ash Shatrah and hung in the town square . His body was later taken down and buried by sympathetic locals . His body was discovered by American forces on April 10 . In addition , the showing of captured soldiers on television , as was done with some of the captured soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Company , was a violation of the Geneva Conventions .