Ex-hostage had surgery during ordeal

LANDSTUHL, Germany -- Thomas Hamill's kidnappers had surgery performed on his wounded arm during his three weeks of captivity in Iraq, an Army doctor said Tuesday.

Hamill, speaking publicly for the first time since he escaped Sunday in a risky run to freedom, said he feels well and was looking forward to seeing his wife and going home to Mississippi.

"I am very glad to be back on an American installation. I am looking forward to returning to America," he said, waving to reporters with his bandaged right arm from a balcony at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

Hamill, a 43-year-old truck driver for a Halliburton subsidiary who was flown to the U.S. military hospital on Monday, urged Americans to "keep your thoughts and prayers with those who are still" in Iraq.

He also said he was "looking forward to reuniting with my wife in the morning." His wife, Kellie, was expected to arrive at Landstuhl today after passport delays.

Maj. Kerry Jepsen, a surgeon treating Hamill, said his patient has lost a few pounds but feels "in generally good health" and would likely return home this week.

Hamill was shot in the arm and struck in the head with a rifle butt when his convoy was ambushed on April 9. He underwent surgery that cleaned away dead tissue after about a week in captivity, though it's unclear whether he was taken to a clinic or a doctor came to him, Jepsen told reporters. His bandages were changed daily and he got antibiotics.

His English-speaking captors initially "left him with some water and a couple packages of cookies," Jepsen said. "He did say he was fed regularly."

Hamill was frequently moved from place to place and spent his last night in a cramped, mosquito-infested room with a dirt floor, Jepsen said.

Hamill squeezed open the sheet metal door of the farmhouse near the town of Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, and ran to a U.S. military convoy passing by after he recognized the rumble of the vehicles' diesel engines.

"He just said, 'This is my opportunity and I'm going to make it,'" Jepsen said.

Hamill has received counseling and has been interviewed by intelligence agents. He also got the food he wanted: a meal of hamburger, french fries and a soda for his first dinner at Landstuhl.

Hamill, who works for Halliburton Corp. subsidiary KBR, formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root, was among seven American contractors who disappeared after the April attack. The bodies of four have been found and two are missing.