Special Edition Victory Series Production
The rescue of POW Private First Class Jessica Lynch has captured the attention of our nation.
This Victory Series submission is dedicated to her.
American POW Leaves Iraq After Rescue
inspiring details of the Private First Class Jessica Lynch story
By DOUG MELLGREN, Associated Press Writer
Excerpted to details about Private First Class Jessica Lynch, future recipient of the Purple Heart and possibly other medals as well.
NASIRIYAH, Iraq - An American flag folded across her chest, Pfc. Jessica Lynch left Iraq on a stretcher Wednesday April 2, 2003, after U.S. commandos, acting on a CIA tip, rescued the prisoner of war.
Lynch, a 19-year-old Army supply clerk, arrived at a U.S. air base in southwestern Germany on a C-17 transport plane late Wednesday for treatment at a U.S. military medical center.
"She's real spirited, she hasn't eaten in eight days and she's hungry," her father, Greg Lynch, said. "She wants some food."
U.S. officials in Kuwait said earlier she had two broken legs, a broken arm and at least one gunshot wound (see below for discrepancy).
Lynch was captured by the Iraqis more than a week ago after her maintenance unit made a wrong turn and was ambushed in Nasiriyah.
Following an intelligence tip about Lynch's whereabouts, U.S. special operations forces made their way behind Iraqi lines and seized Lynch from the Saddam Hospital under cover of darkness late Tuesday, American officials said.
The 507th was attacked March 23 during some of the earliest fighting in Nasiriyah, where Saddam's Fedayeen loyalists and other Iraqi fighters are said to have dressed as civilians and ambushed Americans.
Lynch fought fiercely and shot several enemy soldiers during the ambush. She fired her weapon after she had several gunshot wounds (see above for discrepancy) and kept firing until she ran out of ammunition, The Washington Post reported in Thursday's editions.
She watched several soldiers in her unit die and was stabbed when Iraqi forces closed in on her position, The Post quoted U.S. officials as saying.
An Iraqi pharmacist who works at Saddam Hospital told Britain's Sky television that he treated Lynch for leg injuries but that she was otherwise healthy. But he added, "every day I saw her crying about wanting to go home."
The pharmacist, who gave his name only as Imad, said Lynch knew the U.S. troops were on the other side of the Euphrates River and "she kept wondering if the American Army were coming to save her."
Kudos to Private First Class Jessica Lynch, for her courage under fire.
Home grown, from the heartland of the United States!