[Laracroft]

http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/Othe...News/2005071113

July 12, 2005

Jessica Lynch to address Rotary in city




Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch will speak about her detention in Iraq and subsequent dealings with Iraqis during a Friday appearance at the Charleston Rotary Club noon luncheon meeting.

The Wirt County native is also affiliated with Keep ’Em Flying, the organization supporting retention of Charleston’s 130th Airlift Wing.

For more information on Lynch’s appearance and reservations for her luncheon talk, call Debbie Coffman at 357-4783.

[Laracroft]

here is what she had to say at the Rotary Club. It is interesting and there is a nice picture of her if any who knows how to post them would mind posting it . thanks
I posted the entire article


http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/Othe...News/2005071532

July 16, 2005
Lynch talks of ‘the strength to persevere’


By Rick Steelhammer
Staff writer

Perseverance and teamwork are the keys to survival and success, former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch told members of the Charleston Rotary on Friday.

The petite, soft-spoken ex-PFC, who still walks with the assistance of crutches more than two years after her Army maintenance unit was ambushed in Iraq, said she learned about the importance of teamwork while undergoing basic training in the Army, shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“I actually loved basic training,� she said, even though her drill instructor told her he hated West Virginia, because that was where his ex-wife was from. “But there, the Army taught me I had the strength to persevere, and that I could master my fears.�


During the Iraq invasion, the importance of teamwork was driven home when the 5-ton truck Lynch was driving broke down. She and a supply sergeant were left stranded on a desert track until her best friend and stateside roommate, Lori Piestewa, and 1st Sgt. Robert Dowdy picked them up in a Humvee.

After driving slowly on for hours, they approached the glimmering lights of what they thought to be the rear of their convoy, but turned out to be the city of Nasiriyah.

Piestewa stopped to pick up other stranded members of their maintenance company as Iraqis began to fire on the American soldiers.

But in the aftermath of the ambush that followed, “everyone else in the vehicle I was riding in lost their lives,� Lynch said.

After a rocket-propelled grenade destroyed the Humvee’s steering system, the vehicle crashed into a stalled truck, causing most of Lynch’s injuries. When she regained consciousness, she was in a Nasiriyah hospital, where her weight dropped to 70 pounds, and where she had no idea whether anyone in the Army knew if she was dead or alive.

“I knew then that I could never give up, because I knew I had to get out of there to find out what happened to my friends,� she said.

On the night of her rescue, “I heard helicopters and the sound of bombs and gunshots going off,� she said. “I didn’t know if the Americans knew I was there, or even if I was alive and a prisoner.�


Two guards who were assigned to her room looked out a window and gestured at helicopters flying past the hospital.

“I wasn’t sure if it was Iraqis coming to kill me or Americans coming to rescue me,� she said. But she knew she was in safe hands when a Special Forces soldier entered her room, said he was an American soldier, and ripped an American flag patch off his uniform and placed it in her hand.

“I looked at him and said, ‘I am an American soldier, too.’�

In the two years following her rescue, “I work hard every day to get better,� Lynch said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to walk long distances without a cane. But I think I can if I never give up and never stop trying. I didn’t make it this far to give up now.�

Lynch said she would begin classes this fall at West Virginia University and hopes to eventually become a kindergarten teacher.

“I don’t know why things turned out like they did, but I want to be able to give back to my community.�

The Jessica Lynch Fund she created and helped fund raises money to assist the children and other dependents of deployed military personnel.

She is also a spokeswoman for the Keep ’Em Flying organization, formed to support Charleston’s 130th Airlift Wing. Personnel and aircraft from the Air Guard unit helped deliver the commando team that rescued her from the Nasiriyah hospital, and flew her to Germany for initial hospital treatment.

“It’s important both for national defense and for West Virginia to keep the 130th here,� she said.

Lynch said she recognized that many family members and friends feel helpless when their loved ones in the military are deployed in harm’s way.

“But believe me, your prayers and words of support are being felt around the world.�

[patience]

[Laracroft]

patience thanks
Hope fully with this last surgery she won't need a cane either. She can play free with the children she wants to teach.

[Matt Wiser]

She did say a couple of months ago that she'd need another operation on that right foot. At least she's taking online classes this fall-getting around a college campus on crutches would be a pain.

[mainzman]

Despite Jessica's latest surgery, she seems to be doing very well, getting out, and keeping busy, which is always good. Jessica will be even busier when she devotes more time to her education and pursues it on a full time basis. When I attended college full time, it became a full career in itself.

[patience]

[Dilligafst]

Hey Mainz:

Outside of this one, is Jessica still doing other appearances around West Virginia and so on?

I wonder what she thinks about her doctors and nurses in that hospital after these two years have passed.

Yes, college can be a full time career. That's why they call it "professional student:)"

[mainzman]

Dilliagfst,

I'm not sure what other appearances Jessica will be doing other than the Rotary Club. I imagine she'll do appearances here and there.

[Matt Wiser]

No doubt, school and therapy permitting.

Mainzman is quite correct on college being a full-time job: Done that twice, both as an undergrad and as a Grad student. Even as a Grad, I still had to do a minimum of 12 units to get financial aid, thus it was full-time. And that's just the class time, not including library research, homework, typing papers, etc.

[Dilligafst]

LOL Matt: How well I know. Done it twice too, in addition to working two or three part time jobs at the same time while doing it. Sometimes, it is much easier being out of school than being a "professional student," though I do miss those erratic schedules all those comments like, "Don't you ever work for a living." I would have kept going, for the Ph.D (Alias piled higher and deeper), but did not want to incur any more loans.

Thanks Mainz. Was just curious. Was thinking that alot of what she is doing publicly is not being covered now. Oh, well.

[Laracroft]

Here is another picture if jesica from the meeting

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/0...wvbb10207151933

[Laracroft]

[jessi_lori26]

there ya go

[Laracroft]

Thanks