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Community Celebrates 20th Birthday Of Jessica

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Posted 01 May 2003 - 08:48 AM

Community celebrates 20th birthday of Jessica Lynch

By BOB WITHERS - The Herald-Dispatch

PALESTINE, W.Va. -- Drivers passing through Windy Gap on the Garfield Road see a changed atmosphere once they enter Wirt County.

American flags, yellow ribbons and signs expressing thankfulness are everywhere. That’s because Palestine is former prisoner-of-war Jessica Lynch’s hometown.

And today is her 20th birthday.

Lynch’s birthday bash in Palestine begins at the post office on W.Va. 14 at 11 a.m. when members of the Friends of Mohammed -- a group founded in Malden, W.Va., to honor the Iraqi lawyer who assisted U.S. troops in locating her -- will throw a public picnic featuring Middle Eastern food and dedicate an honorary garden they planted there.

But there are other gifts and honors -- and they’re not all arriving in Palestine.

• The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus honored Lynch and the other deployed troops in Charleston Friday night. Representing Lynch was Linda Davies, her kindergarten teacher.

• Miriah Duckworth has written "Jessi’s Song" about her friend and recorded it Thursday at Sweetsong Studios near Parkersburg. When or where Lynch will hear it hasn’t been revealed.

• Charleston attorney Shawn Bayliss has organized the Operation United Homefront Freedom Ride and Rally to honor Lynch and the troops. He’s inviting motorcyclists everywhere to meet at The Huntington Mall from 10 a.m. to noon today and ride up Interstate 64 to the state Capitol, where several patriotic speeches will follow. The $10 registration fee will benefit the West Virginia Family Readiness Group, which provides financial support to the families of West Virginia’s military personnel who have been deployed.

• Pam Nicolais, a cousin to Lynch, will receive a gift package for Lynch this afternoon from the Weirton-Wellsburg chapter of the West Virginia Credit Union League -- $1,000 in cash, a $500 gift card from Kaufmann’s Department Store, a $100 gift card from Sears Roebuck & Co. and a gift basket from J.C. Penney Co. Inc.

• Jerry Parkins, director of the sales department of the Charleston Marriott Town Center, is offering a free two-night stay for Lynch and her family "whenever she wants to use it."

Nicolais reflected on Lynch’ newfound celebrity during a lunch break at the Mountain State School of Massage -- where Nicolais, a dental assistant in Palestine, is studying to become a licensed massage therapist.

She connects the world’s phenomenal attention to Lynch’s story with the photograph of her smiling broadly with her fatigue cap pulled smartly down over her forehead.

"Jessi’s face shows the kind of character she has -- loving, caring," she said. "People from all over the world have told me that there is something about her face, that the Lord spoke to them and that she was going to be OK."

Meanwhile, work on the two-story addition to Lynch’s homeplace -- which her mother, Deadra Lynch, saw for the first time in daylight on Thursday -- continues.

"She’s in awe," Nicolais said. "The house was chaotic, and she was worn out, but her spirits are good."

Several family members are returning to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., to be with Lynch on her big day as she continues to improve.

"She’s doing better," Nicolais said.

The medical center is listing Lynch in satisfactory condition after having suffered a head wound, a spinal injury and fractures to her right arm, both legs, her right foot and ankle. Gunshots may have caused open fractures on her upper right arm and lower left leg, according to the hospital.

Ramona Lynch, whose husband was Lynch’s third cousin, said she suspects that the surgeries on Lynch’s legs may have been necessary because the bones were knitting together improperly.

"She laid there for eight days before they rescued her," Ramona Lynch said at her home on Lynn Camp Road near Palestine. "They may have had to break them and reset them."

Nicolais isn’t so sure.

"The doctors and nurses over there (in Iraq), and this is from Greg Sr., were very good to her," she said. "Whether they did anything to her, I don’t know. That stuff isn’t important to me. Her well-being is what matters now."

Regards,

Scott Drake
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