Seven former prisoners of war have flown back home to the United States, arriving at military bases in Texas to embrace loved ones as cheering crowds waved flags and yellow ribbons.
The seven, two Apache helicopter pilots and five soldiers from an Army maintenance unit, were freed by US forces north of Baghdad last Sunday after they were abandoned by their fleeing Iraqi captors. They had been taken prisoner in March.
Another member of the same maintenance unit, Private Jessica Lynch, was rescued separately by US special forces on April 1. She is recovering from injuries in a Washington military hospital.
The seven flown home on Saturday had been recuperating at a US Air Force base in Germany since Wednesday.
People in the crowd at Fort Bliss had tears in their eyes as they watched the POWs step from the military transport plane as the sun was setting in Texas.
Onlookers cheered as ex-POW Specialist Shoshana Johnson, who was shot in both ankles, was helped to her feet and waved the flags of the United States and Panama, where she was born.
The former prisoners were to spend the weekend with their families after receiving a medical examination.
Spec. Joseph Hudson thanked the crowd, saying, "This means the world to all of us. Remember our fallen soldiers. God Bless America," he said.
Several people in the crowd were overwhelmed with emotion.
"This is the happiest thing I've ever seen. I'm just so happy they're home. I'm so proud of them," said Yolanda Alvarez, who was among those welcoming the POWs home.
Five of the seven former POWs are with the 507th Maintenance Company and are stationed at Fort Bliss, near the west Texas city of El Paso.
The two Apache pilots, David Williams and Ronald Young of the 1st Cavalry Division, travelled to Fort Hood, in central Texas, where they are based.
"This makes you almost as nervous as being shot at, but we do really appreciate the support," Young told the crowd.
Pictures of the POWs were beamed around the world by Arab television shortly after their capture, drawing White House warnings of possible war crimes trials against Iraqi military officials if they were harmed.
Three were treated for bullet wounds at Landstuhl, Germany, the largest US military hospital outside the United States.
Landstuhl, near the US air base at Ramstein, treated more than 545 US military personnel hurt in the Iraq war, of which 223 were combat wounds.