| LYNCH,
JESSICA D. Name:
Jessica D. Lynch |
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| Other
Personnel in Incident: Killed
in action: Missing
in action (later declared KIA): Prisoners
of war: Four
more members of the unit were wounded, but managed to hold off or evade
enemy forces until a Marine unit arrived to help evacuate them. Source:
Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw data
from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews. April 2003. Synopsis:
A group of about 20 members of the 507th was ambushed near An Nasiriyah,
Iraq on the fourth day of battle by civilian-clothed Iraqi forces. The
soldiers were supplying the 3rd Infantry Division in its drive to
Baghdad in central Iraq when they took a wrong turn. Broadcast pictures
showed the convoy with a vehicle that appeared to have its tires shot
out, another was overturned. Six vehicles were destroyed according to
media reports. The
507th, which deployed with the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, is
not considered a combat unit, Defense Department officials said. Made up
mostly of mechanics, the 507th keeps the diesel tanker trucks rolling,
fixes generators and keeps the mechanical parts in good shape. Lynch was
a supply clerk. Some
members of the 507th were shown on Iraqi television as prisoners being
questioned, but Lynch was not one of those. Lynch and the unit's cook,
Shoshana Johnson, are among the first women POWs of this war, but women
have been held prisoner starting with the Civil War. Two more women are
listed as missing {MIA}. Lynch
was rescued April 1, from an Iraqi hospital in Nasiriyah. Army Rangers,
Air Force combat controllers, Navy SEALs and Marines participated in the
mission after receiving word from multiple local sources that she was in
Saddam Hospital - a facility used by the regime as a military post - and
still alive. Media reports indicate a witness stated that she was being
"slapped" by an Iraqi officer when seen. Doctors
treating Lynch after her rescue and flight to Landstuhl Regional Medical
Center in Germany indicate Lynch has two broken legs, a broken foot and ankle, a
broken arm, disc injury, and head laceration. No confirmation yet on
whether she was hurt in the ambush on the 507th, by her captors, or in
the rescue effort. Initial reports of her having stab/gunshot wounds were
confirmed when her family admitted she had 2 gunshot wounds. Doctors in
Germany had earlier denied it. She underwent back and orthopedic surgery on April 3rd and
4th, was listed in stable condition, and was expected to recover. Lynch
was described as a "country girl" and had joined the Army
because of the lack of jobs in rural West Virginia. She had hoped to
attend college after her extended enlistment and become a kindergarten
teacher. Her brother, Pfc. Greg Lynch is an avionics electrician from Fort Bragg, N.C. He's currently on emergency leave in their hometown of Palestine,
W.Va. Lynch Jr. had enlisted the same day as his sister. Her parents, Gregory and Deadra Lynch credited faith and a "brave bunch of people" for her rescue. Gregory Lynch Sr. went on to say "We love her, the little brat's caused a big stir in this town." Jessica Lynch and her family left Landstuhl early Saturday morning (April 12) with 49 other wounded. They will continue medical treatment and recovery in the U.S. Meanwhile, TV Networks fight over rights to her story, and 5 others prisoners, captured with her, have yet to be located in Iraq. Nine others from her unit were memorialized in services at Fort Bliss on April 11. They were killed in the ambush and it's aftermath where Jessica and her fellow soldiers were captured. As of May 8, 2003 all the POW returnees, except for Lynch, have returned to Fort Bliss, Texas and are on leave.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030709-121049-4754r.htm July
9, 2003 Crash
caused Lynch's 'horrific injuries' By
Rowan Scarborough THE
WASHINGTON TIMES
The Army will release a report tomorrow on the ambush of the
507th Maintenance Company in Iraq that will show Pfc. Jessica Lynch and
another female soldier suffered extensive injuries in a vehicle
accident, but not from Iraqi fighters. The deadly March 23 battle in Nasiriyah, in central Iraq, has emerged as perhaps the most famous incident in the war - both for what happened and for what was reported to have happened, but did not. .....
New York Times -- April 27, 2007
Former POW Jessica Lynch Finishing Teaching Degree
Jessica Lynch was just 19 when the world first saw her — a broken, blond soldier caught on combat video in Iraq, her face wearing something between a grimace and a grin. The Army supply clerk was being carried on a stretcher after nine days as a prisoner of war. She had been captured along with five others after the 507th Maintenance Company took a wrong turn and came under attack in Nasiriyah on March 23, 2003. Eleven of her fellow soldiers died. Lynch had joined the Army at 18 to earn money for college and become a school teacher. This Friday, at 28, she completes that mission...... |
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http://www.stripes.com/news/army/ex-pow-jessica-lynch-commemorates-rescue-1.214620 |
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