[Laracroft]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02092007/news/...andy_soltis.htm


G.I. JESSI'S JOY
EX-POW ON MOMMY DUTY
By ANDY SOLTIS
February 9, 2007 -- Former POW Jessica Lynch has a new assignment - caring for her 3-week-old daughter, whom she named after a fallen colleague in Iraq.

"I want to see every cry and smile. I want to catch it all," Lynch, now a 23-year-old college sophomere, said of Dakota Ann Robinson.

Lynch gave birth last month by Caesarean section to the 7-pound, 10-ounce girl - no small feat since she was still overcoming injuries sustained when her unit was ambushed and she was captured in the opening days of the Iraq war.

Lynch and Dakota's father, Wes Robinson, plan to move soon from their Parkersburg, W.Va., apartment to a house - with a nursery painted camouflage green and pink. But that's not to encourage the baby to be a soldier.

"We'll tell her the story of her mom first and then let her decide," Lynch told People magazine.

Lynch was a member of the 507th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss, Texas, when her unit came under fire on March 23, 2003, near Nasiryah.

Army Spc. Lori Piestewa, Lynch's tentmate and former Fort Bliss roommate, was killed in the attack, becoming the first woman to die in combat in the war.

Lynch's Humvee crashed, leaving her with two spinal fractures, nerve damage and a shattered right arm, right foot and left leg. The dramatic story of her rescue after nine days in captivity made her one of the heroes of the war.

Lynch and Robinson agreed to name the baby Ann, which was Piestewa's middle name, and Dakota, which means friend or ally in a Lakota dialect. Piestewa was part American Indian.

"I think of her every day," Lynch told People.

She said she will never be able to forget her past.

"I am Prisoner of War Jessica Lynch. I will always be that," she said. "But being a mommy will be amazing."

Lynch, who still has health problems from her time in Iraq, is expecting to take a semester off from her studies at West Virginia University-Parkersburg to adapt to parenthood. But her mother, Dee Lynch, says it won't be hard to learn.

"Jessi's a natural," she said. "You would think she's had Dakota forever."

andy.soltis@nypost.com

[Matt Wiser]

Thanks for the post, lara. Has anybody seen the picture of Jessica and the baby in People?