Families of the 372nd tormented by stories of POW abuses in Iraq

"It's really very upsetting to me that the military is doing this," says Ivan L. Frederick, 76, a World War II veteran from Western Maryland whose son, Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, has been recommended for court-martial. (Sun photo by Karl Merton Ferron / April 29, 2004)

CUMBERLAND - For months, members of the 372nd Military Police Company harbored a terrible secret.

The Army Reserve unit based near here - whose service in Iraq made many of its members hometown heroes - had boasted six months ago of its credentials for a new security assignment at a prison west of Baghdad.

"We are relying heavily on our soldiers with correctional [officer] experience," said their newsletter, published in the local newspaper. "The regular Army can't touch us with experience."

But months later, the prison detail was disgraced in news reports across the world.

The Army said yesterday that 14 of the 17 soldiers implicated in an investigation of abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison are from the 372nd. They face either criminal or administrative charges.

To the proud reservists and their families, the publication of the allegations - that Iraqi prisoners were tormented and humiliated - was like opening a dark, musty room that had long ago been sealed off.

Among the few who had been hearing reports of the investigation since January was Ivan L. Frederick, 76, a World War II veteran from Mountain Lake Park in far Western Maryland.

His son, Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, has been recommended for court-martial by a hearing officer. The final decision rests with the top American commander in Iraq.

In neat, handwritten block letters, the son wrote a journal about his Iraq experience and sent a copy to his father.

Sergeant Frederick, who described the abuse Wednesday night on the CBS program 60 Minutes II, says in the journal that he saw Iraqi prisoners placed in intolerable conditions.

"Prisoners were forced to live in damp cool cells," says an entry said to be from January. "MI [Military Intelligence] has also instructed us to place prisoners in an isolation cell with little or no clothes. No toilet or running water, no ventilation or window for as much as three days."

A 'different culture'

In the journal, Frederick says the unit was in a strange, almost unfathomable land. Like improperly supervised children, he says, members wanted to do their jobs but were uncertain exactly what was expected of them.

In civilian life, Frederick is an officer at a correctional center in Dillwyn, Va. His wife, Martha, works there, too, in the training department.

But his journal says his background wasn't enough to prepare him for his tenure in Iraq. His unit was mobilized in February 2003.

"I have had training dealing with convicted felons of the U.S.," the journal says. "I have never had any training dealing with POWs, civilian internees or detained persons. The prisoners here are of a complete different culture."

He wrote that prisoners were abused and forced to sleep in tents wet with rain.

"A prisoner with a clearly visible mental condition was shot with non-lethal rounds for standing near the fence singing, when a lesser means of force could have been used," he wrote.

"It's really very upsetting to me that the military is doing this," his father said. "They put him in there with no experience taking care of enemy prisoners of war."

Interviewed at his home, the white-haired man came to the door with a drawn expression to defend his son.

Related topic galleries: Court Administration, Morgan State University, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Prisons, Newspaper and Magazine, Prosecution, CBS Corp.

• ELECTRONICS

• DENTAL FRONT OFFICE STAFF

• DISPATCHER

• ADMINISTRATIVE

• DENTAL LAB TECH

• View all Top Jobs