Missing soldiers' bodies recovered in Iraq

updated 3:51 p.m. ET July 11, 2008

WASHINGTON - For more than a year, Gordon Dibler held out hope that his stepson, Army Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, would return home from Iraq. Then military officials delivered the grim news that the bodies of Fouty and another soldier captured in an ambush south of Baghdad had been found.

"Every day that he's been missing has been a day of `what could have been' ... but after hearing the news ... I'm still in shock," Dibler said Thursday after military officials came to his Oxford home.

Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich., and Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass., were kidnapped in May 12, 2007, in the volatile area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death."

Jimenez's father, Ramon "Andy" Jimenez, said he also received a visit Thursday from military officials, who told him that his son's body had been found.

Confirming the families' accounts, the Defense Department said Friday that the remains were discovered Wednesday and identified a day later. The Pentagon generally waits 24 hours after notifying the next of kin before making a release public.

‘Shattered all hope’
The two bodies were found in the Iraqi village of Jurf as Sakhr. The body of a third captured soldier, Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, Calif., had been found in the Euphrates River 11 days after the attack.

Speaking through a translator, the elder Jimenez said the news "shattered all hope" the family had to "see Alex walk home on his own."

Lawrence Veterans Services Director Francisco Urena, who was at the Jimenez home Thursday night and translated for the soldier's father, said the family was given no details on the discovery of the bodies or the nature of the soldiers' deaths.

Video   Soldier's family: He died for his country July 11: Families mourn two soldiers whose bodies were found in Iraq this week. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski has the details. MSNBC

The men were identified using dental records, Dibler said, adding that the bodies of both soldiers were taken to Dover, Del., where military officials are expected to perform further tests to determine a cause of death.

"It's a very sad relief," Dibler said. "But I know I have to go forward, not just for our family, but for the other men and women who are still doing their job over there."

He said he spent much of Thursday on the phone talking with family and friends, including Andy Jimenez. The soldiers' families had become friends over the past year, and Dibler said he always considered the two missing soldiers "our nation's sons."

"Byron went to Iraq to help people who couldn't help themselves," he said, adding that conditions there have since improved. "I know their sacrifice was not for nothing. It was not in vain."

‘A very sad relief’
Fouty was identified using dental records, Dibler said, adding that the bodies of both soldiers were taken to Dover, Del., where military officials are expected to perform further tests to positively identify both men and determine a cause of death.

“It’s a very sad relief,” he said. “But I know I have to go forward, not just for our family, but for the other men and women who are still doing their job over there.”

Video   Another female soldier missing at Fort Bragg July 11: Police are investigating the disappearance of Holley Wimunc from Fort Bragg, N.C. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports. MSNBC

Urena said the Jimenez family expected to receive Alex Jimenez’s body in five days.

“He’s very thankful for everybody from the community in Lawrence and throughout the U.S. who have provided him support during the difficult time the family has been through during the past 14 months,” Urena said of Andy Jimenez.

Massachusetts state Rep. William Lantigua of Lawrence, who also was with Jimenez on Thursday evening, said the family had held out hope for a happy ending.

“That does not take away from the fact that he was doing what he wanted to do,” Lantigua said of Alex Jimenez. “We’ll just remember his life, and what a gentleman he was. The community will continue to support his family any way we can.”

Ambushed outside Baghdad
The three soldiers, from the Fort Drum, N.Y.-based 10th Mountain Division, disappeared May 12, 2007, after insurgents ambushed their combat team 20 miles outside Baghdad. An Iraqi soldier and four other Americans from the same unit were killed in the attack.

The soldiers were from Company D, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment — nicknamed the “Polar Bears.”

Jim Waring of the family support group New England Care for Our Military said he spoke to Jimenez’ and Fouty’s families Thursday night.

“It’s going to be tough on them,” he said. “They really had hoped they were alive.”

Waring said his group had a banner for the missing soldiers: “Together they serve our nation and together they will come home.”

“They did come home together, just not the way we wanted,” Waring said.

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