THREE GUARDSMEN IDENTIFIED AFTER SCRAPE - Four Members Of 1092nd Returned Safely

(06/06/2003)

Three of four West Virginia Army National Guard soldiers who were detained by Iranian soldiers are now known. The four members of the 1092nd Engineers, based out of Parkersburg, were taken into custody, blindfolded, questioned and released unharmed. Sergeant James Robinson, 39, of Moundsville and 23-year-old Bill Zachary Powell of Barboursville are members of the 1092nd Engineering Battalion, based in Parkersburg, involved in the incident. The family of Shawn Justice of Beckley has also been notified he was one of the detained soldiers. The Pentagon has not released any of the soldiers' names, but family members have made their names public. Sources said the four person was an Ohio resident. All were part of a 500-person call-up of the WV National Guard unit. Robinson's wife Joanie said Wednesday that she wasn't told of her husband's capture until he telephoned her early Tuesday morning to tell her he was safe, although officials called a short time later. Powell informed his parents, Billy and Drema Powell, in a telephone conversation Monday about the problems. Officials say the soldiers were not captured, bur detained last weekend with a civilian Army contractor, two civilian captains and two boat drivers as they sailed up the Shatt al Arab Waterway in the al Faw Peninsula to pick up Iraqi South Oil Company personnel. The two civilians, who are believed to be Iranians, are still being held. It is possible the men wandered into Iranian territory.

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