The other five POWs, bloodied and beaten, were interviewed by the Iraqi TV, and the footage shown worldwide by the Al Jazeera.
In the interview, Private First Class Patrick Miller was asked why he came to Iraq; his reply was "I came to fix broken stuff."
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 intelligence and found the seven POWs with a confused Iraqi guard unit, whose officers had fled.
Given dirty prison clothes and fed little food, the POWs had lost much weight and with their garb, and beards they looked like Iraqis.
'"[5] 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.
[7] Also on March 23, the British Army engineering unit made a wrong turn near the town of Az Zubayr, which was still held by Iraqi forces.
[8] Marine Sergeant Fernando Padilla-Ramirez was reported missing from his supply unit after an ambush north of Nasiriyah on March 28.