[lanieer416]

BY JAKE STUMP
http://www.dominionpost.com/a/news/2004/03/10/ac/

The Dominion Post

At just 105 pounds and slightly over 5-feet tall, a 20-year-old with her tied-back blonde hair limped down the first few steps of an auditorium-sized WVU classroom Tuesday night.

The journalism students, most of them in their seats a half-hour before the event, must have brushed her off as one of them as they resumed chatting with neighbors.

It all came into focus as she reached halfway down the set of steps. A silver cane helped balance her every move as Professor George Esper assisted her to her seat and microphone. The room grew silent as if someone had sworn in church. Cameras began to flash. And besides the clicking, all you could hear was Jessica Lynch's shoes brush against the carpeted floor.

Lynch, a former prisoner of war and U.S. Army private, made a surprise visit to WVU's White Hall to serve as a guest speaker for the WVU School of Journalism.

The initial silence that swept the room was shattered within minutes as a shy Lynch and a daunted crowd of 100-plus students and faculty warmed up to one another.

Esper, known for covering the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm, broke the silence as he directed comments, jokes and questions to Lynch in an interview/discussion setting.

The Palestine, Wirt County, native spoke of her childhood, smalltown life and the stories -- true and false -- that made her a household name in America's homes.

"My weapon jammed," said Lynch, who was a member of the Fort Bliss, Texas-based 507th Maintenance Co. at the time. "I don't want to take credit for anything I didn't do. I had to tell the truth."

Media reports had Lynch wounded by gunshots and stabbings after her capture last March. It was also reported that she used her weapon to fend off Iraqi soldiers.

"It's so untrue," Lynch said. "I could've went along and told everyone I was a hero and killed all of these people. But it didn't happen."

Nonetheless, many Americans still hold Lynch in a high light.

When she returned home last July, she had 30,000 letters waiting to be read. Her e-mail account was overloaded with messages and shut down.

Of course, Lynch can't read each letter, but she still expresses appreciation for her fans and their support.

Lynch said she answers mail from children who tell her she's a role model and a hero. Some even ask her for solutions to life's little problems.

"I always tell them to never give up," she said.

That's one thing most people can agree on about Lynch: She never gave up.

Lynch was hurt and taken prisoner March 23, 2003, when her unit was ambushed after taking a wrong turn near Nasiriya, Iraq.

Lynch said that she and four other soldiers were riding in a Humvee when a rocket-propelled grenade blasted their vehicle. The impact threw the Humvee into the back of an Army tractor-trailer, and that's when everything went blank, she said.

Eleven soldiers died in the attack -- including all four soldiers riding with Lynch.

She'd been taken to a Nasiriya hospital, where she woke up a few hours after the attack.

Among her injuries, Lynch suffered a head laceration. But she was a good sport about it Tuesday night.

"They shaved my head," she said. "I was very upset about that."

Lynch also suffered three breaks in her left leg, multiple breaks in her right foot and a broken right upper arm.

At one point in the hospital, doctors wanted to amputate one of her legs, Lynch said.

"They put a mask on my face for oxygen," she said. "I knew what they were going to do. They were going to amputate my leg. I just screamed and shook my head. A miracle happened and the doctors stopped."

Despite what they were about to do to Wirt County's biggest celebrity, the doctors saved Lynch's life, she said.

"They gave me a blood transfusion," Lynch said. "Without the blood I needed, I would've died."

Lynch's weight dropped from 105 pounds to 70 pounds during her confinement.

She was served two glasses of orange juice and a few crackers daily. That's not exactly the mashed potatoes and gravy -- her favorite meal -- that she yearned for while laying motionless in a hospital bed.

"It's not a diet I recommend," Lynch said before a roar of crowd laughter. Hospital workers always offered her food, she said, but she was afraid to take it.

"I didn't trust them at the time," she said.

Lynch didn't know what to think. During her hospital stay, she continued to hear explosions and gunfire. On April 1, 2003, the chaos got louder and closer.

"I knew they were getting closer by hearing bombs," Lynch said. "I thought they'd blow up the building. Everyday was a nightmare for me to wake up to."

Acting on a tip, U.S. special operations forces muscled into the hospital to rescue her.

"Soldiers came into the room and said, 'We're American soldiers,'" Lynch said. "I said, 'I'm an American soldier, too.'"

At last, Lynch was safe. The pain, however, would continue.

She didn't realize the media circus that emerged from her ordeal until she reached Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

She didn't know about her fellow soldiers' deaths until learning about them on TV newscasts back in the United States.

One of those soldiers was her best friend, Pfc. Lori Piestewa, 23, who was driving the Humvee at the time of attack.

"She taught me about friendship," Lynch said. "She made me stronger. I was too much of a girly girl. I let people run over me and boss me."

Lynch recently established the Jessica Lynch Foundation to assist children of soldiers. Piestewa had two children.

At the end of the discussion, Lynch told the attentive crowd to never take life for granted, to tell friends and family how much they love them and to never give up.

The latter is something Lynch plans to carry out for the rest of her life, even if it means figuring out why the world changed for her in the sands of Iraq last year.

"There's a reason for everything," she said. "I've got to find out what that reason is for me."

[Kicks]

Thanks for the article and the link. It makes me wish I were back in school...at least if I could have been in that classroom!

[mainzman]

Whether Jessica realizes it or not, she's wise beyond her years! For those who read this article, pay very close attention to the last few lines of this article and learn from what Jessica is quoted in saying!!

[atlantabraves]

Yeah me too it makes me wish i was in college or that college classroom. I hope she will be able to walk with out a cane soon though. Oh and does anyone know if she has seen this site yet?? God Bless America!!

[ticker]

Wasn't it WVU's football team that Jessica went to see at the Gator Bowl? Maybe she has decided on WVU as the college she will attend. The governor of West Virginia offered her a scholarship to any state university didn't he?

[lanieer416]

Former POW Jessica Lynch visits WVU
By Angela Jones
Staff Writer
angela.jones@mail.wvu.edu
http://www.da.wvu.edu/archives/app/index.php

When Maryanne Reed, broadcast news chair of the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism, came to the podium in White Hall last night, it was her job to introduce two people she referred to as "homegrown heroes:" Dr. George Esper, professor of journalism, and Pfc. Jessica Lynch, former prisoner of war.
For one hour, journalism students, faculty and staff sat attentively while Esper and Lynch talked informally about her experiences in the war, her capture and her life since she returned home.
To begin the evening, Esper began with a brief description of the type of person Lynch is.
"Put her on the Tilt-a-Whirl at the Wirt County fair and she feels right at home. Put her in a gown with the bangs that she still has and she's crowned Miss Congeniality at the same fair," he said.
"Put her in an Army uniform in Iraq, caught in an ambush that shattered her right arm between her shoulder and her elbow, rendering her right hand all but useless, her spine fractured in two places, her left leg broken, her right foot smashed," he said. "Then a dramatic rescue and she is held up as an icon symbolizing the spirit of the American fighting men and women."
Lynch responded to each of Esper's questions, very informally detailing the months leading up to her departure for Iraq , her relationship with fallen soldier Lori Piestewa and the nine days of her capture.
She said her inner strength was built on "a lot of hope, faith and praying." She was determined to survive her capture, looking forward to returning to her family, friends and "mashed potatoes and gravy."
For the future, Lynch said she wants to return to some sort of "normal life," to go to college to become a teacher and to start a family.
Before taking questions from the audience, she advised them not to give up under any circumstances, not to take life for granted and to find a way to give back to people.
Lynch said she wants to continue to give inspirational speeches and told the audience they should help people out whenever they get the chance "because in the end, it will all be worth it."

[lanieer416]

This is another story on Jessica's visit to the WVU School of Journalism. I love the last line.


Lynch enthralls WVU crowd with details of capture in Iraq


http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cf...id=480247&rfi=6

By Paul Sunyak , Herald-Standard 03/14/2004


MORGANTOWN, W.VA. - Recovering from war wounds that require two hours of physical therapy each day and have her walking with a cane, Jessica Lynch charmed an audience heavily weighted with journalism students during a low-keyed recent appearance at West Virginia University.

The congenial but admittedly nervous Lynch, who turns 21 next month, recounted the circumstances of her capture in Iraq a year ago, when a convoy of her 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed in Nasiriyah.

A petite and photogenic former Army private who spent nine days as a prisoner of war before U.S. forces liberated her from an Iraq hospital, Lynch said she joined the military as a way to get money to attend college. The Palestine, W.Va., native and self-described "shy kid" said she still plans to become a teacher, even after the ordeal that made her a household name.

Uniontown native and WVU journalism professor George Esper introduced and asked questions of Lynch, including some that audience members wrote on index cards before the hourlong event. "She is held up as an icon, symbolizing the spirit of the American fighting men and women," noted Esper.

But Lynch downplayed her portrayal as a hero, casting herself as a regular G.I. who answered the call to duty and was seriously injured when a rocket-propelled grenade struck the Humvee in which she was riding, causing it to slide into a tractor-trailer ahead of it in the convoy.

The incident killed Lynch's best friend, Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, who was driving the Humvee, and three other soldiers.

It also left Lynch with a head laceration, a broken right shoulder and left leg, and a spine fractured in two places.

"I (still) have no feeling at all in my left foot," said Lynch, who noted that a blood transfusion at the Iraqi hospital saved her life. However, she said that her own operating room screams to "Stop!" likely prevented surgeons there from amputating her badly infected left leg.

"I was determined to get out of there alive," said Lynch, who subsisted on two glasses of orange juice and a few crackers each day, largely because she was distrustful of any other food offered by her captors.

"It's not a diet I'd recommend," she added, noting that her weight plunged from its normal 105 pounds to only 70 pounds while she was recovering from her life-threatening wounds.

Lynch said she blacked out when the grenade hit and remembers waking up three hours later in the hospital. Contrary to government reports published in the media, which had her mowing down the Iraqi attackers with her own weapon before succumbing to her wounds, Lynch said she never fired a shot.

"I just went down praying. I didn't want to take credit for anything I didn't do," said Lynch. "It (the early account of her heroism) was so untrue. I could have told everyone that I killed all these people, but that wasn't true."

Lynch said her disoriented convoy suspected trouble when it started traveling on blacktopped roads, which meant it was near a population center, something they were supposed to avoid.

"I knew something was wrong ... but I didn't think we were going to be caught in an ambush," said Lynch, who added of her capture, "I was determined to get out of there alive. Every day it was just a nightmare for me to wake up to. Five minutes (for sleep) with my eyes closed, I was happy with that."

Her first clue about being rescued came when two orderlies began looking excitedly out of a high window in her room. That was followed by bombing sounds and then cries of, "Get down! get down!" but Lynch remained fearful because she didn't know the identity of the forces.

"I actually felt like I wanted to fall off the bed and crawl under it, but I couldn't do that," she said. When those entering the room identified themselves as U.S. soldiers, Lynch uttered the now-famous phrase, "I'm an American soldier, too," of which she said, "It sounds kind of corny now."

A month ago, Lynch was using crutches during her slow but steady rehabilitation. The recipient of 30,000 letters in the aftermath of her rescue, whose e-mail account was shut down because of overload, offered uplifting words of wisdom in her ending comments.

"Never give up. If I would have given up ... I wouldn't be here today," she said.

"Don't take life for granted. You never know when you're going to lose someone special. (And) find a way to give back to people."

[mainzman]

In the article that heads this topic about her visit with the WVU journalism students, at the end of the article, Jessica is yearning to find the reasons WHY her life changed in Iraq and she survived her ordeal.

Jessica,

The answers to your questons you have about the changes in your life and the reasons for your survival will probably not come to you in a fleeting thought or even suddently. Most likely, the answers you desire will come as you continue to live your life. These answers will come as you and Ruben get married and have a famiily. The answers will come as you and Ruben grow old together and watch your children grow up, become adults, and have families themselves.

Jessica, try not to search for the answers you want about your life to hard or quiclky, but allow those questions to your life get answered as you live your life!