Jessica Lynch Awarded Bronze Star !

Kansas City Star ^ | 7/22/2003 | Gavin McCormick

[ex-Texan]

Jessica Lynch Awarded Bronze Star

Lynch Gets Medals Ahead of Homecoming

ELIZABETH, W.Va. - Former POW Jessica Lynch was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart in Washington Monday as she prepares for her homecoming.

Lynch, who returns to the hills of West Virigina Tuesday, also received Prisoner of War medals at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. The Bronze Star is given for meritorious combat service, a Purple Heart is most often awarded to those wounded in combat, and the POW for being held captive during wartime.

"The Purple Heart ... was not necessarily about being wounded or injured in action initially, but that's what it has come to symbolize," said Lt. Gen. James B. Peake, the Army Surgeon General, in presenting the medals. "It's a special award and not one you choose to get."

Four members of the West Virginia Army National Guard's aviation support unit in Parkersburg were chosen to staff the helicopter that she will ride home in.

"Minus all the hype, this mission is about being able to participate in the homecoming of one of our own," said Chief Warrant Officer Robert McClure, who will co-pilot the Black Hawk helicopter with Chief Warrant Officer Jim McPeak. "It's a real honor."

Lynch, still recuperating from multiple broken bones and other injuries, and her parents are scheduled to fly from the medical center to Elizabeth. The 210-mile trip should last two to three hours, depending on the weather.

Also on both legs of the flight will be Lynch's cousin, Dan Little, a first sergeant in the Parkersburg National Guard unit.

"Jessi trusts him and wanted him to be with her because he's been through most of it with her," said Wyonema Lynch, Lynch's grandmother, noting that Little traveled to Germany when Lynch was recuperating there.

Little, who has spoken twice with Lynch in the past week, said her spirits have been buoyed by her imminent trip home.

"She's a strong, disciplined young lady," Little said. "Her injuries are long healing, and that can be hard if you dwell on it. But she's not allowed that to happen."

With hundreds of news media and others descending on this Wirt County seat of about 1,000 for Lynch's first public comments about her ordeal, area residents have been painting, pruning and preening for weeks.

"We are excited just to see her, just to be able to give her hug. To Jessi, home is in the hills. She has been wanting to get here," her grandmother said.

Regina Ray of Elizabeth said she is glad Lynch is coming home "because there is no place like home to recover."

American flags and yellow bows line the route Lynch's military motorcade will take from Elizabeth to her home in Palestine, a community of about 300 residents some five miles away.

Lynch is scheduled to make a brief statement in Elizabeth before riding in a Ford Mustang convertible in the motorcade.

Lynch's convoy was ambushed near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah after it made a wrong turn. Eleven soldiers from the convoy were killed and Lynch, a supply clerk, was severely injured.

U.S. forces recovered Lynch at a Nasiriyah hospital April 1. Five other 507th Maintenance Company soldiers who were captured and held apart from Lynch were freed April 13.

The influx of hundreds of visitors, including many journalists here to report Lynch's first public words since her March wounding, capture and rescue in Iraq, is bringing needed cash to Wirt County, which has West Virginia's highest unemployment rate - 15.1 percent.

The economic benefits dampen the annoyance many residents feel at the intense media interest in Lynch.

"They're anxious to see you come, and they'll be anxious to see you leave," said Keith Burdette, Gov. Bob Wise's legislative liaison and the county's former state senator.

Also on the flight will be the crew chief, Sgt. 1st Class Vernon Cosner of Washington, and flight medic, Sgt. Paula Tucker of Morgantown.

[Rodney King]

Meanwhile, there you sit, bravely hunkered down behind your keyboard, typing.

As we all do. Perhaps we should shut down the forum because its not fair to comment on anything from behind a keyboard.

And all those guys in Iraq will get their just reward from the DoD, but without the fanfare.

Will those in her unit who died get their just reward from the DOD? Will all those who risked their lives in combat be recognized? Probably not. That's life. But I can't imagine that some guy who was shot in combat likes the idea of someone else getting a medal because she is a celebrity. But I could be wrong. Perhaps the combat troops in Iraq are totally thrilled that she gets a medal on top of big bucks for her story, while they get nothing.

I don't understant your bitterness.

I'm not bitter. I am just stating my opinion, like we all do here all day long.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I don't think we'll learn anything new, but isn't she supposed to speak to the press sometime today?

As far as degradation of medals go, I do have a problem with it but we must remember not to blame Jessica Lynch. She didn't make the rules. I think the Army and the higher ups have decided that America needs war heros and will take them anyway they can.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Women in the military must have lower standards for being awarded medals as well as the lower physical fitness standards.

[Lijahsbubbe]

I didn't say they were princes of hospitality. I'm saying what I heard this woman say on TV.

Unless Jessica tells it herself that she was raped, I think it's real sleazy to assume that she was.

[Tailgunner Joe]

But, I'm still opposed to sending women into combat.

All women or just supply clerks?

[jaykay]

I remember the other POWs from the 507th receiving their medals at a ceremony at Ft. Bliss about a month ago. The article I read listed the medals awarded to each soldier and what that soldier did to receive the medals. Shoshana Johnson, the only other female POW was reported to have received a bronze star, but no description of why. So Lynch and Johnson receive bronze stars and the reason for the awards are not given only in thier cases. I don't think the medals were awarded without merit, but that these two women suffered things that they would rather not have known.

[Tailgunner Joe]

I think it's real sleazy to assume that she was.

No, it's only common sense. It's naive to assume she wasn't.

[opbuzz]

From a rollling Stone article on Recon Marines

.... Obtaining (Sgt) Colbert's respect is no small feat. He maintains high standards of personal and professional conduct and expects the same from those around him. This year he was selected as team leader of the year in First Recon. Last year he was awarded a Navy Commendation for helping to take out an enemy missile battery in Afghanistan, where he led one of the first teams of Marines on the ground. ...

I see the Navy routinely disburse Navy Commandation madals for being at work on a regular basis. I knew a special forces LtCol who recieved a bronze star for serving as Administration Officer during the first Gulf War.

Medals have been stripped of their value.

[jaykay]

"What about the black lady who was a POW?"

THE "black lady" has a name: Shoshana Johnson. She received the same awards as Pfc. Lynch: Purple Heart, POW Medal and Bronze Star. All easy info to find, right here on FR.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Women joining the military need to know the truth about what may happen to them, specifically, that they may be ordered into the combat zone unnecessarily in order to suck up to feminazis who hate this "male-dominated" country and want to weaken our military's capabilities and morale.

[MEG33]

I think you should write her home town Newspaper...Picket,protest,write your congressman,Harass the Secy of the Army..Contact Rumsfield.This cannot stand!

[Lijahsbubbe]

Well, you don't know what happened any more than I do. Difference is, your assuming you know what happened, and I'm not.

I'm sure she doesn't want people looking at her and thinking that she was raped. If she did, she'd tell us. And until she does, nobody knows.

[Rodney King]

THE "black lady" has a name: Shoshana Johnson. She received the same awards as Pfc. Lynch: Purple Heart, POW Medal and Bronze Star. All easy info to find, right here on FR.

OK, so more than once person earned a bronze star for doing far, far less then then people had to do in WW2 or Korea to get one.

[Tailgunner Joe]

You don't want to know what happened and I do.

[Rodney King]

I think you should write her home town Newspaper...Picket,protest,write your congressman,Harass the Secy of the Army..Contact Rumsfield.This cannot stand!

Why do some people ge so outraged when others express their opinion on an online forum? I'd bet if I simply cliked on your name I would find hundreds of posts by you were you expressed your opinon on something, yet declined to do anything past expressing your opinion on thif forum.

[Thorondir]

Nothing, nothing so see here, folks. I would never say something controversial or confrontational like, "YOU ARE EXACTLY RIGHT!" because that might offend somebody sensitive, gentle, and special who just might be gunning for me at this time. Blah blah, yadda yadda, happy happy joy joy. I'm OK you're OK. Move along. Everything is beautiful and good and above criticism--especially those things that certain people hold very special and dear; things that I, of course, would never criticise again. blah blah, yadda... uhm... etcetera.

[Lijahsbubbe]

You don't want to know what happened and I do

Who told you that, the same person who told you Jessica was raped?

[Tailgunner Joe]

We already know the fairy tales about her gunning down the enemy with a bayonet in her teeth were false. They were made up by the feminazis who want to pretend women can do anything men can.

Now we need to know the truth, because it won't advance the cause of further loosening the rules that restrict women from combat, and may actually help those of us who really care for women to undo the Clinton policies that led to this travesty.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I would like to see the narratives that accompany the medal. I look at my father's often. A DFC and the Air Medal with one silver and one bronze OLC. Those are something.

I've seen 3 bronze stars in my life. One was an USAF EOD guy from Desert Storm who had 2. He would have got them even under strict award criteria. The other was an Army Captain who got his during Desert Storm in Bradleys. Both guys are good friends.

[Rodney King]

Wow, sorry for all the typos in my above post.