U.S. hostage was treated

He decided to escape when he heard U.S. military vehicles driving by.
LANDSTUHL, Germany (AP) -- Former American hostage Thomas Hamill, who was shot when he was abducted in Iraq, was treated for the wound and regularly received food during his three weeks in captivity, a U.S. military doctor said today.
Hamill, who escaped his captors Sunday in a daring run to freedom, has lost a few pounds but feels "in generally good health," said Maj. Kerry Jepsen, a surgeon treating Hamill at a U.S. military hospital in Germany where the ex-captive arrived Monday.
Hamill, a 43-year-old truck driver for a Halliburton subsidiary, waved to reporters with his bandaged right arm from a balcony at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. He said he was feeling well.
"I am very glad to be back on an American installation. I am looking forward to returning to America," he said. He urged Americans to "keep your thoughts and prayers with those who are still" in Iraq.
In his escape, Hamill pried open the door of a shack where he was being held and ran a half-mile to a U.S. military convoy passing by near the town of Balad, north of Baghdad.
"He feels very lucky to have gotten away," Jepsen told reporters. "He's looking forward to meeting his family and getting back home."
Treatment
Hamill was shot in the arm when his convoy was ambushed April 9. He recalls receiving medication for the wound and being put under anesthesia after being captured, though it's unclear whether he was taken to a clinic or a doctor came to him, Jepsen said.
His English-speaking captors initially "left him with some water and a couple packages of cookies," Jepsen said.
They frequently moved him from place to place, guarding him in cramped, mosquito-infested rooms where he had to sleep on the floor and had to stay inside during daylight hours, Jepsen said.
On the day he got free, Hamill recognized the rumble of U.S. military vehicles' diesel engines nearby and decided to make a run for it.
"He just said, 'This is my opportunity and I'm going to make it. He's going to have to shoot me or take me out,'" Jepsen said.
Military doctors have said Hamill, from Macon, Miss., is in good shape and would likely return home this week. Jepsen told ABC's "Good Morning, America" that Hamill would need reconstructive surgery on his arm, "but we expect that he should have a good recovery and do well."
Hamill's wife, Kellie, was expected to meet him at Landstuhl on Wednesday.
"I am looking forward to reuniting with my wife in the morning," Hamill said.
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