Soldier Sends Sonora Word Of Saddam’s Capture

Reaction on Saddam Hussein´s capture coming in from all over the world, including Sonora.

Dennis and Lucy Acree´s 19 year-old son, Danny, is a private first class with the Army´s 4th Infantry Division in Iraq.

Lucy says her son called on a borrowed satellite phone moments after word came down to U.S. troops stationed in Tikrit. She says they got a call from their son around 3 a.m. Sunday morning.

“He was saying that all the soldiers were so excited,” Lucy said this morning after being up for more than 24 hours since the phone call. “He was beyond himself with excitement. All the soldiers were celebrating.”

News of the capture spread fast to military personnel stationed in the Middle East and helped raise their spirits. “They are all feeling this is a very historic moment and it was definitely a shot in the arm as far as their morale,” she said.

“I think the morale has been difficult to sustain because of all the attacks activities and the losses they sustained,” Lucy said.

She says her son has been working on convoys helping move supplies between Mosul, Bagdad and Kuwait City. “It´s not what I thought he´d be doing, but he´s doing what he needs to do,” she said.

Of course she and her husband are worried about the safety of their son.

He is just one of several hundred serving in the Middle East from the Tuolumne and Calaveras counties area.

Danny Acree is a 2002 Sonora High Graduate.