Thomas Hamill is a 46-year-old dairy farmer from Mississippi. He took a job as a truck driver with the Halliburton subsidiary KBR due to financial hardship.

Mr. Hamill was seized along with Keith Matthew Maupin, the only other confirmed survivor, after an ambush on their fuel convoy. Truck driver Timothy Bell remain unaccounted for. The remains of the other missing driver, Bill Bradley, was found after 9 months.

Mr. Hamill was held in a remote location near Samarra. On hearing an American patrol nearby, he ran from his unsecured prison and flagged them down.