National Football League

How Jay Glazer reunited a former prisoner of war and the marine who rescued her

Updated Apr. 8, 2024 1:38 p.m. ET

The woman’s face disappeared from the Zoom screen the second the man’s face popped up. He was older than she remembered, bald now, with the wrinkles of fatherhood starting to form on his face.

But that face was unmistakable.

All that the rest of the Zoom could hear were the woman’s tears and the words she kept repeating.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Jay Glazer, FOX Sports’ NFL Insider and the host of the Zoom teleconference through his charity Merging Vets and Players (MVP), started to cry. So did most of the over 100 military veterans also on the call.

Glazer chats daily with NFL stars, coaches and power brokers and counts his "FOX NFL Sunday" castmates — some of the most recognizable sports commentators in the world — among his best friends. But he remembers feeling something else in that moment, something he rarely feels: starstruck.

On March 23, 2003, in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson was part of a convoy that was ambushed by Iraqi troops in Nasiriyah, a city in southeastern Iraq. Nine of her fellow squad members died in the ambush, while she and eight others were captured. Two more would soon die of their injuries while in captivity.

Johnson and the remaining six soldiers were then taken nearly 250 miles north to Baghdad, which was under heavy attack from U.S. forces.

"They would stop in different cities and show us off," Johnson recalled recently on "Unbreakable," Glazer’s podcast. "We’d get spit on, we’d get slapped and so forth, as they took us from Nasiriyah to Baghdad."

The hostages were also medically cared for — Johnson had been shot in both of her ankles during the ambush, and underwent surgery on her wounds while in captivity. They were also fed regularly.

There was another benefit to being near a war zone as hotly contested as Baghdad at the time — the constant sounds of gunfire and bombs going off nearby were signs that American troops — and possible rescue — were close at hand. But the prisoners would always be moved further away from the fighting.

"We found out later they were moving us in a Red Crescent van," Johnson said. "There were a couple of times where there were firefights going on, and they're moving us in the middle of it."

Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson of Fort Bliss, Texas, who has been held by Iraqi troops as a POW prepares to enter a plane after arriving at Logistical Support area Chesty April 13, 2003 in central Iraq. Seven POWs were released into U.S. Marine custody April 13. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

They were eventually moved even further north, toward Saddam Hussein’s hometown and stronghold of Tikrīt. The sounds of combat faded. So, too, did Johnson’s hope of rescue. One night, while staying in a house in the town of Samarra, 21 days after their capture, the prisoners were fed an unusually nice meal that included candies and soda for dessert. Johnson thought it was a signal that this would be her last meal and they would soon be executed.

Meanwhile, Lance Cpl. Curney Russell and his unit from the U.S. Marines’ 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion had been part of a task force diverted away from Baghdad, tasked with taking the fight north toward Tikrīt and Hussein’s stronghold. They had also pushed their way to Samarra and thought their job was nearly over. Army troops were supposedly on the way, and when Russell was summoned to speak with his battalion commander, he assumed it was to receive the news that those reinforcements had arrived.

Instead, the commander had a mission for them. Intelligence had come down that seven Americans were being held hostage at a house in Samarra, and Russell’s platoon would be operating a rescue mission. The 18-year-old Russell, five months out of boot camp, would be the point man for the roughly 10-man unit ordered to breach the house.

Johnson remembers Russell kicking down the door to the house like something out of a movie.

"In my mind … your shoulders are so broad, you had to turn sideways to get in the room," Johnson said. "Because you are heroes."

Russell says it took him three tries to kick the door down, and that was after nearly breaching the wrong house. When the Marines entered, they yelled for everyone to get down and then stand up if they were American. Johnson — believed to be the first Black female prisoner of war in U.S. military history — stood up.

"I remember somebody said to Shoshana, ‘Get down,’ and I was like, ‘No, she's an American,’" Russell said. "Everybody else was, for lack of a better term, Caucasian. She didn't look Arabic. She looked like people that I know."

As Johnson was led out of the house, gripping Russell’s arm like he was her "security blanket," her eyes adjusted. She realized that she was staring at a group of soldiers who, much like the prisoners, had weeks’ worth of dust and dirt on themselves. Johnson, who was 30 years old at the time, also realized how much younger Russell was.

"I saw this baby face," Johnson recalled. "I was like, ‘Oh my God, this little boy.’"

A photo taken on April 13, 2003 and released by the U.S. Marine Corps became one of the defining images of the early days of the Iraq War. It shows Russell escorting Johnson off of a helicopter at a military base in Kuwait, hours after the rescue had taken place.

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Curney Russell assists former prisoner of war Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson in Kuwait City, April 13, 2003, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Johnson endured 22 days in captivity in Iraq. (Photo by Cpl. Michael Leitenberger/U.S. Marine Corps)

It also marked the last time Russell and Johnson would see each other for nearly two decades.

Johnson and the other six POWs were soon given a heroes’ welcome back in the U.S. There, Johnson would learn that the military had initially failed to contact her family — her father found out about her capture on a television news segment while flipping channels to search for cartoons for her then-2-year-old daughter.

Years passed. Johnson was given the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, among several other recognitions for her service. She settled back into her hometown of El Paso, but not without severe bouts of depression and survivor’s guilt. She eventually wrote a book about her experiences and began speaking to schoolchildren as part of the Military Order of Purple Hearts. She got to see her daughter grow up, joking on the podcast that she is "a pain in my ass."

Russell, meanwhile, made a call to his pregnant girlfriend while at the base, then hitchhiked back to Iraq to continue fighting. He fought for several more years through multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and, until recently, never told anyone outside the military, not even his family, about the role he played in bringing Johnson and her fellow prisoners of war back to safety.

Former Iraqi War POW Shoshana Johnson (R) listens as the church choir and Rev. Maurice Johnson (L) (no relation) clap while singing a song to honor Shoshana at the First United Christian Church June 6, 2003 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

By the 2010s, the story of the dramatic rescue of Johnson and her unit had long faded from the national consciousness. But Glazer came upon it once more when he asked why a member of his West Hollywood, Calif. gym was hanging his head so low one day.

The man, Elliot Ruiz, said he was a Marine veteran and had suffered a major leg injury while on a mission to rescue American prisoners of war in Iraq when an enemy truck tore through a checkpoint and nearly ran him over. Ruiz would undergo nearly a dozen surgeries on his left leg, and was still suffering from the mental toll of his time in combat and his injury.

"I was like, ‘Wait, did you say you saved American POWs?’" Glazer recalled recently to FOXSports.com. "He said ‘Yeah, but —’ I said, ‘No, there’s no but here, dude. From now on, you don’t walk into this gym with your head down. You’re above me, you’re everybody above everybody else in here. None of us have done that. Actually, forget just the gym, you walk around the street, I want you looking above everybody else. You’re different."

Glazer said Ruiz came back the next day as a changed person. The two became friends, and Ruiz was one of the first members of Glazer’s MVP charity. Co-founded by Glazer and former Army Green Beret turned NFL long snapper Nate Boyer, the charity serves as a way to help army veterans and former athletes connect with each other in order to, as its website says, "assist with transition, promote personal development and show them they are never alone."

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]

Ruiz had helped facilitate that 2020 virtual reunion at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic between Russell, his platoon mate, and Johnson, one of the rescuees on that fateful mission. Johnson broke down in tears as soon as Russell’s face popped up on the Zoom, and soon, most others on the call were crying, too.

It was the first time Johnson and Russell had seen each other’s faces since that fateful day in 2003.

The emotional moment left such an impact on Glazer that he wanted to do more.

"It was just so powerful," Glazer said.

And not just because of Johnson’s reaction.

"It was the first time Curney had even talked [publicly] at all about [the rescue]," Glazer said.

Last November, for a special Veterans Day episode of his podcast, "Unbreakable," Glazer reunited Johnson and Russell, again over Zoom, to share their stories in depth. For the first time, Russell heard Johnson speak in detail about her captivity, her "last meal" fears and how her rescuers are permanently etched in her mind as ageless "superheroes." Johnson heard Russell share about how he thought he was walking into an ambush like the one depicted in the film "Black Hawk Down" as people gathered on the rooftops above him to watch him breach the house where she was held captive.

Glazer also made both of them a promise — he would do everything in his power to reunite Johnson and Russell face-to-face one day.

That day finally came in March. Glazer, with the help of his travel agent, arranged for Johnson to fly to Los Angeles and Russell to drive up from San Diego, where he had settled with his family. Glazer and his fianceé hosted them both, along with Ruiz and another former member of their Marines platoon, at Glazer’s Los Angeles-area home. A video posted to Glazer’s social media shows the very first time Johnson and Russell reunited in person.

Glazer had initially planned to treat the veterans to a nice weekend in Los Angeles — the beach, restaurants and even a visit from former star NFL offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth, who had heard their story from Glazer and wanted to meet them himself. But Russell, after finally sharing his story, wanted to record another podcast, not only to go over his and Johnson’s accounts of the capture and rescue in more detail, but also to shine a light on the rampant mental-health issues that many veterans face.

Glazer happily obliged (the podcast episode was published on March 27 on FOX Sports Radio’s YouTube Channel ). Over the hour-long discussion, Johnson and Russell talked about the rescue as well as their lives after the military and the healing that their reunion brought to them.

For the first time since it happened, Russell is now passionate about telling his story.

"Throughout the years, I've never really told the story in its entirety," Russell said during the most recent podcast. "People who knew about it would ask questions and I'd give them an answer to the question. But this is the first time that I was actually able to tell the story, and document the story with Shoshana. My mother and father, who have both passed, never heard the story. I have sisters who have finally heard the story. My wife finally heard the story."

When Russell called his then-girlfriend, now-wife from that base in Kuwait in 2003, she told him the sex of their child — they were having a girl. In November, after she listened to Glazer’s first podcast with Russell and Johnson, that same girl, a now-20-year-old named Maya, approached her father with tears in her eyes and hugged him.

Russell said that’s when it really sunk in for him that he should tell his story, not only for himself but those around him.

"I get to tell veterans a lot, ‘Your stories are your equity,’" Glazer said. "It’s hard in your next step, in your transition, if you don’t talk about it. Everybody else lies on their résumé. These guys dumb down their résumé. … For [Russell] to finally be proud, and he was so proud that weekend, that I could help one vet like that, that’s great."

Glazer said he is also in awe of Johnson, whom he calls "the most incredible survivor I’ve ever been around."

"She has this unbelievable spirit, like you just want to be around her," Glazer said. "I consider her a friend now and really want to help give her, like, this grace of who she is. She was telling me about other people that she knows that she thinks that they’ve done more than her, and they have different degrees, or this and that. I'm like, ‘Absolutely not. Shoshana, nobody has done what you've done, surviving 22 days in captivity. Nobody that I've ever met.’ She's just such a special woman."

Glazer is thrilled that Johnson and Russell are communicating on their own now. Russell said on Glazer’s most recent podcast that one of the best parts is now seeing Johnson as a full person whose life he helped save, not just a successful mission objective.

"Hearing your story, talking to you, it gives me strength," Russell told Johnson when they met in person.

"But you’re the superhero," Johnson responded.

Russell and his wife had a second daughter during the pandemic. She is now 3 years old. Recently, Russell’s wife and younger daughter traveled to Twentynine Palms, a desert city in southeastern California and the home of a Marine Corps base — and a mural depicting the famous photo of Johnson and Russell. Russell received a photo via text from his wife that featured his younger daughter pointing at his face in the mural, and he was moved to tears. He quickly shared it with Johnson.

"This is his way that he's now understanding what he did was so special," Glazer said. "To see them be able to love themselves up, man, that’s the Super Bowl right there."

Editor's note: The above quotes from Johnson and Russell are from the Nov. 11, 2023 and March 27, 2024 episodes of "Unbreakable," with Jay Glazer. You can watch the former episode in full on YouTube here and the latter episode here. You can check out every episode of "Unbreakable" on your favorite podcast platform here.