European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 23, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                I cover Story desert destruction from the cover Hussein a Republican guard. Five of the regiments solders were to die within the next 24 hours. A dozen More would be wounded in whirlwind combat that would set the Pace for the final 36 hours of the persian Gulf ground Campaign. The regiment would fight the first Allied Victory against the guard destroying 160 tanks 180 personnel carriers and 100 other vehicles. The enemy dead would number at least 500. But for now the weather was too foul for anyone to move. No one expected the iraqis would be capable of attacking. Not intentionally anyway. Sergeants Randy Willey Terry Crighton and Hilbert Potter sat in two personnel carriers guarding about 90 enemy prisoners. The iraqis had been captured in a Brief firefight before Nightfall and sat in a miserable Cluster in the rain. Cargo helicopters scheduled to pick them up had been cancelled because of weather. At around Midnight american Mars artillery rockets pounded nearby iraqi positions illuminating the sky like blood red lightning and setting the prisoners on Edge. Several iraqis were leaning against the personnel carriers trying to stay out of the wind. A we weren to really paying attention to the clock a said Crighton 36, a motor sergeant. A we were in the chill Mode. It was cold and wet and we were trying to get comfortable. We were just trying to get through the night  in front of the american regiment the iraqi 12th tank div groped blindly through the darkness. One version says the iraqis were trying to escape the coalitions frontal assault across Kuwait and thinking they were retreating into open desert drove straight into the lines of the american cavalry troop. Another version says they were trying to counter attack the Mars batteries and had no idea of the size of the american Force arrayed before  in the night the fight began a few minutes after 2 . Spec. Walter Ellison had just finished a guard shift in his Bradley. A within 5 minutes i was asleep a said Ellison 23, from Chicago. A fall of a sudden i heard it go Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom. And then my observer woke me up and said hey you better get up in the Turret. They fighting. They  Ellison scrambled up into the gunners scat and looked out Over the Black desert. The fighting was coming from the direction where Crighton and Potter were guarding the 90 prisoners a few Hundred feet in front of the Bradley. Iraqi personnel carriers called it lbs were firing and american Bradley were shooting Back. About a dozen it lbs and two to three enemy tanks had stumbled into the front line. Spec. Scott Heide 21, was sitting in the Drivers Hatch of his Bradley watching the Battle directly to his front. He heard someone say Quot follow my Trace a Over the radio. Then a 25mm round from a Bushmaster gun slammed into his vehicle. A i Felt my body lifted up against the Drivers Hatch then i fell Back thinking a am i alive a then everything went fast Forward. We got out and were heading away. Tracers were  another Bradley burned beside Heidet a. Enemy vehicles also burned in the distance. Sgt. Luis Lopez counted 11 machine gun bullets bouncing off the Back of his Bradley. Two More struck under the floor of the Turret. A get out get out Quot he yelled to his Crew. A a that Sfa ing Friendly fire Quot by then enemy prisoners had dispersed and swarmed All Over the area looking for cover from the gunfire. Lopez screw piled out among them. Another tracer fired knocking the Turret Hatch off so Vine Crew a Gulf War veterans line up in Amburg Germany to receive combat medals last september from left capt. Dan Miller sgt. Randy Willey spec Gregg Scott pfc. Jct try Goode and pfc. Michael of Donnell. And rupturing the fuel tank. Lopez shouted a get out we re still receiving fire a then a larger round smashed into Lopez a vehicle setting it ablaze. Though shaken none of the crewmen from either Bradley had been killed or injured. The Pentagon has confirmed that the incidents were Friendly fire. The 10 homeless soldiers marched cautiously through the rain until they reached a neighbouring Bradley about 1,000 feet away where they huddled in a Little Circle and stayed there until  death ride sergeants Potter and Crighton were in bigger trouble. Their two lightly shielded m-113 personnel carriers had been left stranded several Hundred feet in front of Friendly lines because of the prisoners. Ammunition ricocheted Over Willeys head. He saw gunfire a behind us and Over our Heads and to the left of us.  he spotted what he thought was an it la less than 300 feet away and Crighton frantically radioed for permission to move toward safety behind troop line. The troop Captain ordered a cease fire and the 10 soldiers in the two personnel carriers began what would be for Many of them the longest and final journey of their lives. A Crighton a vehicle led the Way with Willey in the Hatch and Cpl. James a a Mack Mccoy driving. Potters Crew of seven combat engineers trailed close behind. Is Vinca Crowley months after his a in be got to get through Quot line staff sgt Robert Peterson relaxes in Grafen Wuhr Germany. Witnesses saw them go past the two burning Bradley and they were told to keep retreating toward the line of tanks 1,000 feet farther Back. The unit promised to remain on cease fire until their arrival there was confirmed. Crighton however lost his bearings and Potter followed him into the darkness. The unit lost Contact with them and their two destroyed vehicles were not found until morning. Spec. Timothy Duletzke 22, a tank gunner from Saginaw mich., was abiding by the cease fire and watching in frustration As enemy ground troops swarmed through the area. He saw enemy soldiers jumping out of it lbs and hiding behind Bushes firing shoulder launched Reg rockets across the Battlefield. Duletzke never got a Chance to shoot Back at them because Crighton and Potter never reached the tank line. A a that a when i started freaking out. I thought i was going to have to do a whole Burich of shooting Quot Duletzke recalled a month later a and they commanders kept coming Over the radio saying a nobody  i Felt really  one of the Reg rockets struck Crighton a vehicle. The Driver Mccoy died instantly. Crighton lost his  and Willey took heavy shrapnel. Potters Driver pfc. Aaron Howard apparently saw the explosion and made a hard left turn to escape from the enemy fire. An army investigation said an enemy it la was driving in front of Howard a few minutes later when an american my tank round hit his Drivers compartment killing him. With the confusion and darkness a it was anybody a guess what was happening Quot Duletzke said. He Wasny to convinced that an american tank fired the first shot at Howard. Potter and the five surviving crewmen scrambled out and were subsequently shot by american forces killing sergeants Dodge Powell and William Strehlow. Potter lost a leg. Spec. Edgar Castillo was hit in the ankle and knee. It was his 21st birthday. The Pentagon has verified that the incident was Friendly fire. But the crewmen who shot the americans say they have not been told through official channels and apparently still believe they fired upon enemy troops. In the overcast Dawn americans began finding their dead and wounded. Most of the enemy vehicles had also been destroyed several inside the american lines but Only about 60 of the original 90 iraqi prisoners were rounded up. The previous evening gis had expressed sympathy Over the wretched prisoners they a captured. Now a private from i troop looked out across the Battleground and said with disgust a i done to feel sorry for them Mother  a few minutes later with Many of the nights questions left unanswered the regiment was ordered Page 4 a sunday february 23, 1992