
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 6, 1991                   TAG: 9103061136
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BUFFALO, N.Y.                                LENGTH: Short

SECOND AMERICAN WOMAN RELEASED

The family of an Army flight surgeon gone to war feared the worst when they heard that her helicopter disappeared last weekend during a search-and-rescue mission.

But their worst fears evaporated Tuesday when Donald and Jeanne Scott learned that their daughter, Maj. Rhonda Cornum, was alive and, after being captured by the Iraqis, free.

"Rhonda's little but she's tough. She can handle herself in a tough situation," Scott said of her trim, 5-foot-5 daughter.

Donald Scott's voice broke with the emotion upon learning his daughter was safe.

"My God, I feel it's one of the happiest days in my life," Scott said. He had yet to speak to his daughter pilot. "I don't know if she's wounded or injured. I won't be surprised if she's wounded."

One of 15 American POWs freed Tuesday by Iraq, she was also one of two U.S. military women captured. The other was Army Spc. Melissa Rathbun-Nealy, 20, who was taken prisoner during the battle of Khafji.

The Scotts learned Sunday that Cornum's Chinook helicopter was shot down. Five people on board were killed, but three survived. That's all they knew at first, Scott said.

by CNB