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Jessica's Appearance In Florida She says she's going to be OK

#1 User is offline   Matt Wiser 

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Posted 03 February 2010 - 01:53 PM

Here's a story on Jessica's appearance in Florida from tcpalm.com. And little Dakota got her first trip to the beach, too. Nice job, Jessica!


STUART — In her mind, Jessica Lynch is just a regular mother of one trying to get her teaching degree.

She’s simply a 26-year-old coal-country West Virginia girl whose background was normal among her friends, at least until March 2003.

During her duty as a U.S. Army Quartermasters Corps private first class in Iraq, a wrong turn by her company would separate Lynch from the realm of the ordinary, and result in a horrific capture and her widely publicized rescue.

Lynch spoke to 300 people Friday at the Blake Library about the three weeks that changed her life that March, when she was taken prisoner in an Iraqi hospital and rescued by U.S. forces — the first POW recovered since World War II, and the first woman ever rescued.

“For the topic and for her age, this was an incredible experience,” said Judi Snyder, library system associate director for public services. “I don’t know how she did it without bursting into tears.”

Lynch’s 507th Maintenance Company took multiple wrong turns and hit a wall of Iraqi fire that killed 11 soldiers, wounded nine and led to seven imprisoned. She blacked out and woke in an Iraqi hospital bed in Nasiriyah.

“One shot, two shots and before we knew it, we were in a full-fledged ambush,” Lynch said. “We were ducks in the middle of a pond with nowhere to go. Iraqis were in house windows, on rooftops, hiding behind gateposts, they surrounded us.”

There, Lynch had to trust in the Iraqi medical staff. She couldn’t feel her lower extremities, could barely see because her glasses broke and nearly had her leg amputated.

On April 1, U.S. forces infiltrated the hospital and rescued Lynch, who bore just as many physical scars as mental ones.

Her back, left tibia and right arm were broken, her foot was shattered, and her kidneys were damaged — a physical toll that has resulted in more than 20 surgeries.

Lynch took her 3-year-old daughter to the Hutchinson Island beaches before speaking, and even then, the fact that she couldn’t walk barefoot in the sand was one of many constant reminders of her past.

But she’s not willing to let them rule her life.

“Through the process, it’s been tough. But with perseverance, I’m going to be OK,” she said. “I tell myself that the tears, sweat and pain of the past six years are definitely well worth it.”
Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect, but always have ready a plan to kill them.

Old USMC Adage
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