thedrifter
04-06-07, 09:10 AM
Army investigating whether friendly fire involved in deaths of two soldiers in Iraq
By: MARY CLARE JALONICK - Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Thomas Epperson said his son, Matthew Zeimer, was eagerly fulfilling his dream of a military career when he was sent to Iraq in January. Less than a month later, the 18-year-old Army private was dead, possibly killed by fellow soldiers.
The Army is investigating the Feb. 2 deaths of Zeimer, who lived in Glendive, Mont., and Spc. Alan E. McPeek, 20, of Tucson, Ariz., and whether friendly fire may have been the cause.
"I'm not going to hang nobody until I know for sure which way it is," Epperson said Thursday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Epperson said he originally was told his son died from enemy small arms fire in Ramadi, in western Iraq. On March 31, he said, Army officials came to his home and told him that his son may have been killed by a friendly tank shell.
"That put me right back into a fog," said Epperson, 42, who lives in East Haven, Conn. "No one wants to lose a child, and to hear it's friendly fire, you have to relive it again."
Last week it was disclosed that nine high-ranking Army officers, including four generals, made critical errors in reporting the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. The military found no criminal wrongdoing in the shooting of the former NFL player.
The Army's Criminal Investigative Command, which looked into the Tillman killing, has not been called in examine the deaths of McPeek and Zeimer. CID only would get to work if the unit identifies any possible criminal actions by those involved or regarding the flow of information about the incident.
Epperson said he is "trying to do the waiting game" as the Army finishes its investigation. He now flies an American flag at his home, along with a U.S. Army flag, and has pasted yellow letters on the trunk of his black Volkswagen Jetta that spell his son's name, birthday and date of death.
Col. Daniel Baggio, an Army spokesman, said he could not confirm what killed the soldiers, but Army officials gave their families "the best information they had at the time."
McPeek's mother, Rose Doyle, declined to discuss the latest development. "Whatever I say isn't going to bring my son back," she said Wednesday.
McPeek, Zeimer and other soldiers came under attack by insurgents at their outpost in central Ramadi. A report in the Army Times newspaper said McPeek was about to leave Iraq and took Zeimer under his wing. The two soldiers ran to a roof to fight back, according to that report, but a shot was fired through a concrete wall near them and the impact killed them.
Epperson said his son had wanted to go into the military since he was young, and enlisted just before he graduated from high school last spring. Zeimer was deployed from Fort Stewart, Ga., in January and was at his post for about two hours before he was killed, his father said.
"It was a couple of days before he left that I talked to him last," Epperson said. "I'll never fully recover from it."
Three other soldiers were wounded in the incident that killed Zeimer and McPeek. There has been no indication whether they were hit by friendly forces.
McPeek was a member of the 16th Engineer Battalion based in Germany. Zeimer was a member of the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart.
According to the Army, as of the end of March, 21 soldiers have died as a result of friendly fire since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan in 2002. Seven were killed in five separate incidents in Afghanistan, and 14 soldiers were killed in 10 separate incidents in the Iraq war, the Army said.
Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.
Ellie
By: MARY CLARE JALONICK - Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Thomas Epperson said his son, Matthew Zeimer, was eagerly fulfilling his dream of a military career when he was sent to Iraq in January. Less than a month later, the 18-year-old Army private was dead, possibly killed by fellow soldiers.
The Army is investigating the Feb. 2 deaths of Zeimer, who lived in Glendive, Mont., and Spc. Alan E. McPeek, 20, of Tucson, Ariz., and whether friendly fire may have been the cause.
"I'm not going to hang nobody until I know for sure which way it is," Epperson said Thursday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Epperson said he originally was told his son died from enemy small arms fire in Ramadi, in western Iraq. On March 31, he said, Army officials came to his home and told him that his son may have been killed by a friendly tank shell.
"That put me right back into a fog," said Epperson, 42, who lives in East Haven, Conn. "No one wants to lose a child, and to hear it's friendly fire, you have to relive it again."
Last week it was disclosed that nine high-ranking Army officers, including four generals, made critical errors in reporting the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. The military found no criminal wrongdoing in the shooting of the former NFL player.
The Army's Criminal Investigative Command, which looked into the Tillman killing, has not been called in examine the deaths of McPeek and Zeimer. CID only would get to work if the unit identifies any possible criminal actions by those involved or regarding the flow of information about the incident.
Epperson said he is "trying to do the waiting game" as the Army finishes its investigation. He now flies an American flag at his home, along with a U.S. Army flag, and has pasted yellow letters on the trunk of his black Volkswagen Jetta that spell his son's name, birthday and date of death.
Col. Daniel Baggio, an Army spokesman, said he could not confirm what killed the soldiers, but Army officials gave their families "the best information they had at the time."
McPeek's mother, Rose Doyle, declined to discuss the latest development. "Whatever I say isn't going to bring my son back," she said Wednesday.
McPeek, Zeimer and other soldiers came under attack by insurgents at their outpost in central Ramadi. A report in the Army Times newspaper said McPeek was about to leave Iraq and took Zeimer under his wing. The two soldiers ran to a roof to fight back, according to that report, but a shot was fired through a concrete wall near them and the impact killed them.
Epperson said his son had wanted to go into the military since he was young, and enlisted just before he graduated from high school last spring. Zeimer was deployed from Fort Stewart, Ga., in January and was at his post for about two hours before he was killed, his father said.
"It was a couple of days before he left that I talked to him last," Epperson said. "I'll never fully recover from it."
Three other soldiers were wounded in the incident that killed Zeimer and McPeek. There has been no indication whether they were hit by friendly forces.
McPeek was a member of the 16th Engineer Battalion based in Germany. Zeimer was a member of the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart.
According to the Army, as of the end of March, 21 soldiers have died as a result of friendly fire since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan in 2002. Seven were killed in five separate incidents in Afghanistan, and 14 soldiers were killed in 10 separate incidents in the Iraq war, the Army said.
Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.
Ellie