Hostage memories still fresh for Gulf War veteran
BY JAMES GILBERT, SUN STAFF WRITER
Sep 15, 2006

His captors occasionally pointed unloaded guns at him and other hostages and pulled the trigger on empty chambers, a former Marine sergeant and Gulf War veteran told a room of Marines and other guests Friday morning.

"Not knowing what the finality of each day would be, or even if there would be a tomorrow, was the hardest part," said Yuman Gerald Andre, who was held hostage at an abandoned U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, in August 1990 after the Iraqi Army invaded Kuwait.

Andre, who served as a Marine security guard for the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City, Kuwait, was one of 50 hostages held for 130 days after the war broke out and used as human shields by the Iraqi soldiers.

"I was listed as a beleaguered missing in action," said Andre, who was taken prisoner four days before he was supposed to discharged. "I guess it's the government's way of saying I was not a captive. I was surrounded by the enemy and could not escape."

Now a U.S. Navy contractor for Lockheed Martin, Andre was the featured speaker at the annual Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Remembrance Breakfast held Friday morning at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.

"This is intended to honor those who have served and those who have never returned," said MCAS commander Col. Ben Hancock.

Initially 150 people were taken prisoner, but the women and children were released. The remaining men, Andre said, were separated into three groups and taken to three different locations.

While he never experienced any physical abuse, Andre said the hardest part of his time in captivity was the constant psychological torture he and others had to endure.

"Some days they would tell us we were going home and load us on to buses, only to tell us to get off after we were loaded. Other times they would drive us around the block and bring us back, then tell us to get off."

Andre said when the Iraqis finally said they were going to release him and the other hostages, he didn't believe them.

"They took us to the airport, gave us tickets and put us on a plane. We thought at anytime they were going to pull the carpet out from under us. We didn't believe them until we landed at Andrews Air Force Base."

Andre said he was proud to have been asked to speak at the ceremony, saying the sacrifices of prisoners of war and those listed as missing in action should never be forgotten.

"It's important the public realize that the freedom and liberties they enjoy were also at the expense of those taken prisoner or who have never returned," Andre said. "They have sacrificed so much and risked their lives and don't get the recognition."

Yuma resident Leonard R. Johnson, who was captured by the Germans and spent 97 days as a prisoner during World War II, also attended the breakfast.

"It was during the Battle of the Bugle, I got shot up pretty bad," the 85-year-old Johnson said. "I was shot through both legs, in the shoulder and through my hand. My finger was on the trigger when I got hit.

"It was one of the hardest-fought battles of the war. I had already knocked out one tank that morning and I was going after another one when I was shot."

Johnson, who was being held in a hospital and was eventually liberated by tanks under command of Gen. George Patton, said Friday's ceremony brought back memories of some of the things he endured as a soldier in the Army's 42nd Division.

"The worst part was holding some guy in my arms as he died from being gutshot," Johnson said. "Even after all the years, I still wished I would have known his name."

Ellie