Military details last
stand of SEALs

Four commandos trapped by
militants set tragic events in motion

KABUL, Afghanistan » The last radio contact was an urgent appeal for help. Night was falling, a rainstorm threatening, and four Navy SEAL commandos were surrounded by about a dozen militants in rugged, wooded mountains. They needed reinforcements.

That hurried call set in motion a chain of events that would lead to the U.S. military's deadliest blow in Afghanistan and the greatest loss of life ever for the elite force of SEALs, at least four of them based at Pearl Harbor.

Nine days after the ambush and subsequent downing of a U.S. special forces helicopter with 16 troops aboard, U.S military officials in Kabul and Washington are starting to draw a clearer picture of what happened and have revealed some details.

The four commandos -- one of whom was rescued, two killed (one a Pearl Harbor-based SEAL) and one who is still missing -- were on a reconnaissance mission on June 28 as part of Operation Red Wing, searching for Taliban-led rebels and al-Qaida fighters in Kunar province, U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said.

The eastern province has long been a hotbed of militant activity and a haven for fighters loyal to renegade former premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is wanted by the United States. U.S. officials said al-Qaida fighters also were in the region. Osama bin Laden was not said to be there, though he is believed to be somewhere along the rugged Afghan-Pakistani frontier.

The region's rugged, wooded mountains are popular with militants because they are easy to infiltrate from neighboring Pakistan and have plenty of places to hide.

The SEAL team, specially trained "not only in the art of combat, but also in medicine and communications," were attacked by a "pretty large force of enemy terrorists" and radioed for reinforcements, Yonts said at a press conference.

After the radio call for help, eight Navy SEALs and an eight-member crew from the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the Night Stalkers, flew toward the mountains in a special forces MH-47 Chinook helicopter.

It was dusk as they neared the high-altitude battlefield.

Suddenly, militants hiding in the thick forest fired what is believed to have been a rocket-propelled grenade at the massive chopper, hitting it, he said.

Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the shot as "pretty lucky."

Though damaged, the chopper flew on for about a mile before landing badly on a small ledge on the side of the mountain, then tumbling into a steep ravine. All 16 on board are thought to have died in the crash. Militants then swarmed over the wreckage.

The Chinook, when hit, had been flying alongside other choppers. Their pilots immediately informed U.S. commanders of the crash, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of information regarding special forces operations.

U.S. warplanes, more helicopters and forces on the ground were dispatched to the site, but they were hampered by the approaching rainstorm that lashed the mountains for 24 hours.

In the meantime there was no contact from the four commandos. No one knew if they had been killed in the firefight or had survived and escaped but were unable to radio for help, the official said.

Fears were further raised when a purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, claimed rebels had captured one of the men. But he gave no proof, and U.S. officials were skeptical.

Hakimi, who also claimed insurgents shot down the helicopter, often calls news organizations to take responsibility for attacks, and the information frequently proves exaggerated or untrue. His exact tie to the Taliban leadership is unclear.

U.S. forces finally reached the wreckage of the helicopter last Thursday, 36 hours after it went down.

"We put forces on the ground; we established positions so no more enemy could enter the region. Little by little we took control of the greater area so we could reach the crash site and begin recovery operations," another military spokesman, Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara, said.

The bodies of the 16 -- ages 21 to 40 -- were recovered and flown to Bagram, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, before being transported to Dover, Del. They included three of the Hawaii-based SEALs -- Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Shane Patton, 22; Petty Officer 2nd Class James Suh, 28; and Senior Chief Petty Officer Daniel R. Healy, 36.

Then on Saturday, a breakthrough came in the desperate search for the four commandos. A friendly tribal elder living in the nearby mountains told authorities he was caring for one of them in his house, Kunar Gov. Asadullah Wafa said. It was not clear how the commando got there, he said.

U.S. forces rushed to the site and found the commando wounded but in stable condition. He was flown to Bagram for treatment -- and a debriefing, giving military commanders the first crucial clues about what happened to the ill-fated team.

But the good news did not last.

On Saturday a U.S. airstrike in the region killed as many as 17 civilians, prompting a strong rebuke by the Afghan government. The next day, U.S. troops in the area spotted the bodies of two of the commandos in a deep ravine. It took another 24 hours to recover their remains and fly them to Bagram.

It was the largest loss of Navy SEALs in a single incident since the force of about 2,400 was formed in 1962.

U.S. commanders refused to give up hope for the fourth missing service member. About 300 troops and numerous aircraft were still in the area yesterday, searching for him and hunting "a large number" of militants, Yonts said.

Slain Pearl SEAL
was ‘a gentleman’

The Pentagon has released the identity of a fourth Pearl Harbor Navy SEAL who was killed during a special forces operation in Afghanistan.

Lt. Michael P. Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., was a member of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One, which is stationed on the Pearl City peninsula.

"Mike was an unbelievable, noble, polite gentleman and gave 110 percent of what he did," said friend Kristin Emmerich, also of Patchogue. "He was that type of guy. He went above and beyond. He was a protector."

Murphy was a member of a four-man SEAL team that was reported missing June 28 in Kunar province.

The military sent another of team of SEALs and Army Special Forces soldiers to rescue the four SEALS. But the transport Chinook helicopter they were in was shot down by a rifle-propelled grenade, killing the 16 troops aboard.

Among the 16 dead were three other Pearl Harbor SEAL Delivery Team One members: Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Patton, 22, of Boulder City, Nev.; Petty Officer 2nd Class James Suh, 28, of Deerfield Beach, Fla.; and Senior Chief Petty Officer Daniel R. Healy, 36, of Exeter, N.H., a 13-year veteran of the SEALs and the father of four children, two of whom live in Hawaii.

The helicopter was the first to be shot down by hostile fire in Afghanistan. The 16 troops killed represented the deadliest toll for U.S. forces from a single attack since the hard-line Taliban regime was toppled in late 2001.

The attack came amid stepped-up militant violence as the Sept. 18 parliamentary elections approach.

The military recovered Murphy's body and the body of another Navy SEAL last weekend.

The other SEAL was identified as Petty Officer 2nd Class Danny P. Dietz, 25, of Littleton, Colo. Dietz was assigned to SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team Two, based at Virginia Beach, Va.

A third member of the four-person team was rescued, but his name has not been released. The search for the fourth SEAL continues.

Last week, the Navy told family members of SEAL Delivery Team One that up to six members of the Pearl Harbor unit were killed or missing.

Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara, Army spokesman in Afghanistan, said that Murphy was killed by "enemy fire, enemy actions."

The Navy plans to hold a memorial service at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl at 10 a.m. Monday. The service is open to the public.