Lynch on left, Shoshana on right. Ignored...?
Posted on 02/05/2010 6:12:09 PM PST by Redcitizen
(AP) Shoshana Johnson survived gunshot wounds to both legs and 22 days as a prisoner of war in Iraq. Life wasn't so easy when she came home, either.
In a new book out this week, the 37-year-old single mother describes mental health problems related to her captivity and tells how it felt to play second fiddle in the media to fellow POW Jessica Lynch, who was captured in the same ambush.
"It was kind of hurtful," the former Army cook said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "If I'd been a petite, cutesy thing, it would've been different."
The media likes to sell papers/magazines, gain viewers etc, they pick what they think will appeal to the public most. There have been plenty of guy POW’s that didn’t get the treatment Lynch did.
I’m pretty sure petite female Lynndie England wished she wouldn’t have gotten the most media attention at Abu Ghraib. It’s just business and it isn’t always fair or pretty.
I could have been rich and on Vogue magazine, but I wasn’t as hot as Cindy Crawford....go figure.
I remember her... she looked warily at her captors, and I remember thinking, that girl is very brave. She didn’t know what they were going to do to her, but she wasn’t going to give them any satisfaction.
If I heard correctly Shoshona actually fired a bullet, the only female to do so.
In an interview, she said that she “fired a bullet at the treeline” while riding in a truck, that was the only one that I have seen described and I have never found out more about that treeline.
But....but...but...we're the "barbarians" because some of our soldiers dared to put underwear on the heads of terrorists....grrrr! < /sarc >
She is just being petty and jealous of Jessica Lynch.
LLS
Here is the guy who’s battle field struggles got totally swallowed up and absorbed by the Xena warrior myth of Private Lynch.
“A National Guard spokesman stated that an Iraqi ambulance driver witnessed Walters [with Jessica Lynch’s 507th main, co.], still alive, guarded by six Fedayeen, in front of a building. Walters was led inside the building, and several hours later, the same witness delivered his dead body to a hospital. DNA samples recovered from blood in the building match that of Walters, and splatter vectors suggest that he died from two gunshot wounds to the back, from more than twenty feet away.
During initial reports after the Lynch rescue, it had been stated that a blonde soldier, presumably Lynch, had fought until she ran out of ammunition, although she later refuted this; although there has been no official investigation into this matter, it has been widely speculated that this soldier was Walters, who is also blond. Donald’s mother, Arlene Walters, appeared on the CBS Early Show, making this claim, on May 28.
Army reports from 2003 state that Walters died in the fighting during an ambush that left ten others dead; with no American witnesses to his death. It has now been suggested that Walters was separated from his unit; several gun magazines were found near the location of Walters’ capture, suggesting that he may have, indeed, fought until he ran out of ammunition. Before capture, Walters was shot in the leg, and stabbed twice with a knife in the abdomen, had a dislocated left shoulder, shot twice in the back.
Sgt. Walters was interred with military honors at the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas on April 12, 2003. More than 150 of Sgt. Walters’ relatives, friends and Army comrades attended his funeral. At the funeral, his widow, Stacie, was presented with the Bronze Star and Purple Heart awarded to her husband.
Sgt. Walters’ posthumously awarded Bronze Star was upgraded to the Silver Star for gallantry with marked distinction in March 2004. The ceremony was held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas with Brigadier General Howard Bromberg, director of the Enlisted Personnel Management Directorate, U.S. Army Human Resources Command presenting the decoration to Mrs. Walters. In his remarks, General Bromberg suggested that Sgt. Walters is believed to have provided covering fire for his comrades, allowing many of them the opportunity to escape at the cost of his own life. Sgt. Walters also received the Prisoner of War Medal in May of the same year. There is currently a war crimes investigation on his behalf.”
Lynch on left, Shoshana on right. Ignored...?
Let’s compare.
Ms. Lynch was separated from the others, severely wounded, slapped around by interrogators, and rescued by a special forces team after a brave Iraqi Doctor risked his life to get to an American unit to tell them where she was being held. He was then sent back to the Hospital under risk to his own life, to gt more intel for the rescue mission.
After the rescue, the media and military lied about her being a female version of Rambo.
I say that the cute little blond paid more than enough for her 15 minutes of fame.
Nearly EVERY member of the SF team that rescued Lynch was later killed in subsequent battles.
Is Miller still alive?
God Bless him.
More about Miller and his and Johnson’s reaction to Lynch.
“Johnson, his fellow POW from the 507th, couldn’t recall anything particularly special about Miller when they were stationed together at Fort Bliss, Texas, in the months before they headed off to war. “A down-to-earth country boy,” Johnson remembered with a laugh. “He likes his chew. That’s all I remember about Pat: He had that chew in his mouth.”
Miller now spends his days toiling in a motor pool as part of the 2nd Company of the 43rd Area Support Group. Because most of the unit’s heavy equipment has been shipped over to Iraq, his welding torch has been cold. Recently, he has been cutting the grass and slathering brown and white paint on the building’s interior walls. Every so often, a fellow soldier will quiz him about his service in Iraq.
A $25,000-a-year private first class, Miller lives in a modest three-bedroom townhouse on base with his wife, Jessa,, and two children, 4-year-old Tyler and 14-month-old Makenzie. The children are in day care while his wife works making glasses for LensCrafters. One day, Miller hopes to rise to a higher enlisted rank — an Army warrant officer — and oversee a maintenance shop, perhaps putting in 20 years.
But the fact that Miller remains an unknown grates on Johnson and some in Miller’s family.
“Jessica’s a wonderful girl, and we’re happy she’s OK,” Johnson said. “But it was Patrick; it wasn’t Jessica. His weapon was working. He was doing everything possible. Patrick deserves so much, and he’s not getting the recognition. He’s still a private first class. He hasn’t even been promoted.”
Miller flopped on the plaid couch. He said he wants to put the entire Iraqi episode behind him and get on with his life. Play with his kids. Work on his car. Complete the paperwork for the warrant officer program.
He is asked about the fame of Lynch and how her celebrity has eclipsed his heroics. He summed it all up with a shrug. “She’s female. I’m male. It’s expected of me,” he said. Still, like some others in his company, he harbors a gnawing resentment that Lynch has emerged as the only story in the 507th.
“It just gets me how she gets credit for something she didn’t do,” he finally said. “We were all in the same unit.”
“...Nearly EVERY member of the SF team that rescued Lynch was later killed in subsequent battles...”
?
Is that true???? How do you know??? How could that be?
So sad if true...
That’s not all —Lynch had posed TOPLESS in her platoon bay, both before and after her capture. By huge coincidence just the other day the photos turned up, with a big account of it all.
I think that pornographer Larry Flynt was going to publish them.
MILLER WAS THE HERO.
ApacheClips is a specialized military site —USMC and SF dudes post over there all the time. See my link? The account is over there.
Some of the danger areas for the the team’s egress route was guarded by USMC, and a bunch of them got zapped, too. It was so bad a lot of those Marines were actually cursing her name (at the time), deeming the mission a Hollywood stunt (I guess that was because of the cameras with the team, but I don’t know).
I do NOT take a position on whether or not those elaborate measures were required for the rescue.
“Anyone remember Lori Piestewa?”
_____________
Yes, I do.
Maybe you should have read the whole article.
Your conclusion after reading all of it could be different from mine, but Miss Johnson seems to be just stating the facts as she sees them. She doesn’t appear to think of herself as a hero. She says that she stays in contact with the others who were captured...that Miss Lynch was a friend before the capture, and remains a friend today.
I’m basing my opinion entirely on this article. I’m not familiar with whatever else has happened regarding Johnson. However,evidence of the accuracy of her statement about meeting the guidelines for what is considered by the media to be physically attractive is borne out in countless stories that have garnered extended high-profile coverage as opposed to other similar stories that have not.
She believes that her race also had some bearing on the type of attention she received. That’s possible. There’s some evidence of that in media coverage too. But, it’s probably more likely that she would have had more attention from the media, regardless of race, if she had been thinner and prettier.
IOW, she thinks she was found “guilty” physically. Some folks here at FR know what I’m sayin’.
My sentiments exactly. I hope Shoshana's career as a pastry chef takes off.
I wouldn’t single Miller out entirely, a number of men were fighting.
Miller and Walters were both awarded Siver Stars and of course Lynch and Johnson were awarded Bronze Stars for some reason, they seemed to give most everyone a Bronze Star.
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