- GULFPORT, Miss. - An influential
Mississippi congressman has raised the possibility that the Pentagon has
undercounted combat casualties in Iraq after he learned that five members
of the Mississippi National Guard who were injured Sept. 12 by a booby
trap in Iraq were denied Purple Heart medals.
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- The guardsmen were wounded by an artillery shell that
detonated as their convoy passed the tree in which it was hidden, but their
injuries were classified as "noncombat," according to Rep. Gene
Taylor, D-Miss. Taylor, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee,
learned of the classification when he visited the most seriously injured
of the guardsmen, Spc. Carl Sampson, 35, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center
in Washington.
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- "How could no one have caught this?" Taylor
said.
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- On Nov. 20, shortly after visiting Sampson, Taylor brought
the matter to the attention of Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Purple Hearts quickly were awarded.
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- But Taylor said the incident raised concerns that Iraq
combat casualties had been understated. He said Myers told him he'd been
made aware of similar oversights.
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- "I'm probably going to send a memo out to the rest
of the members of Congress and ask if anyone has had a similar incident,"
Taylor said Friday. "I just don't want to see anyone else who's been
injured get cheated about their Purple Heart."
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- Defense Department statistics show that as of Thursday,
some 2,150 service members had been wounded in action in Iraq, while 354
were injured in nonhostile incidents. Of 441 service members who have died
in Iraq, 304 are listed as killed in hostile action; 137 deaths resulted
from nonhostile action.
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- A Pentagon spokesman said the decision to award the Purple
Heart was made at a unit level and that he couldn't explain how the misclassification
occurred.
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- Members of the Mississippi National Guard were mystified.
"Sampson should have already been awarded a Purple Heart," said
Lt. Col. Tim Powell, a spokesman for the Guard. "An improvised explosive
device built and placed with the intent to harm American soldiers is hostile."
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- Sampson, who sustained shrapnel wounds to his face and
arms, is now hospitalized in Tampa.
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- © 2003 Tallahassee Democrat and wire service sources.
All Rights Reserved.
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- http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/7427192.htm
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