1-244 Rescues Christian Refugees
On October 11, 2008 B Company,
1-244th Assault Helicopter Battalion was tasked with a
mission that was not the normal VIP
or dignitary ring route around Iraq to
which they had become accustomed.
Their passengers that day would be
considered typical, ordinary people by
American standards but in Iraq, Christians
are a very small minority group.
In fact over the last few months
Christians have been receiving death
threats and 13 Christian Iraqis have
been killed in the northern city of
Mosul. Christian families have been
fleeing from their homes because they
fear for their safety and the safety of
their family members.
CW4 Rick Rowzee was the Air Mission
Commander for this particular operation
and he gave a synopsis of what
the mission entailed. In a Forward
Operating Base (FOB) just south of
Baghdad, a small group of Protestant
Christian Iraqis were working with
the Polish military. When the Polish
Ambassador learned of the religious
persecution of these Iraqis he offered
Polish citizenship for all the men
and their families. B Co. transported
the group (25 total) with the help
of Black Water from the FOB to the
Baghdad International Airport (BIAP,
1 hour flight,). All the Iraqi passengers
secured everything they brought
with them in the helicopters and then
boarded an airplane for Poland.
I asked Mr. Rowzee about the people
he transported that day. “I don’t
know if the people were scared from
the threats on their lives or scared
to ride in the helicopter. We had 3-4
children in each aircraft, ages ranging
from 7 years to a baby, 2 older men
in their late 60’s and a handicapped
man.” Mr. Rowzee said that one of
the young Iraqi girls had blond hair
and cried when she had to get off the
aircraft. “Some of the children cried
because they didn’t want to get off
the helicopter,” they really enjoyed
the ride. He described it as a “feel
good mission.”
The crews were: CW4 Rick Rowzee,
CW2 Cody Davis, CW2 Christina
Maple, CPT James Wells, SFC Jason
Debusk, SGT Corey Hoyt, SGT Rick Halbert
and SPC Jerry Lint.
Mr. Rowzee
was very aware of the danger in transporting
this group. The crew learned
that some of their passengers had
relatives executed in Mosul the week
prior. Mr. Rowzee told his crew that
the Muslim extremist that hated and
want to kill the Iraqi Christians may
attack their helicopters. The crews
carefully planned the route, used evasive
maneuvers to deter threat and
completed a fully successful mission
with dexterity and pride.
Written By CPT Paige Hood
HHC 1-244 Unit Public Affairs Representative
To CPT Tim Cleighton, B Co. Commander,
Tim,
On 11 OCT, your crews flew a very important high priority mission that was directed by the U.S. Ambassador. In
short, this mission saved lives (no doubt) where your Soldiers/crews were directly responsible for the safe extraction
/transfer of several Iraq Nationalist and their very young children/families.
I personally observed your crew physically handle these
young children with pride, professionalism, and a manner
that would make you think these children were their own. I
was extremely impressed with the crew’s performance with
the hospitality and delicate caring attitude they demonstrated
to these families.
This mission was directed from the U.S. AMD (Ambassador)
after he received a special request from the Polish Ambassador.
The stellar performance and irrefutable integrity of
your crew has had immense impact on the relations with
the US, Iraq Nationalist, and the Polish Delegation contingent.
I cannot emphasize enough how grateful the Polish AMD
was for your crews. Several crew members
debarked the aircraft and hand carried young children on
the Helo, secured them, and then loaded a lot of luggage.
They went even further and emptied their coolers providing
cold drinks to all the women and children.
I have ensured the AMD office knows the output of your crew men/women on a day to day basis, their constant
professionalism and hard work day in and out, only qualifies the integrity of all members of the 244th, and they
have made us all look good with the AMD mission.
CPT Dwayne Hodges
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