News-Info-Alerts

Re: PVT Lynch Coming Home

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: July 12, 2003

"Lynch coming home

Former POW can be released from D.C. hospital by end of month

By BOB WITHERS - The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON -- At last, Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch is coming home.

Randy Coleman, communications director for the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, has confirmed that doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., have said the celebrated former prisoner of war in Iraq can be released before the end of July.

Beverly Chidel, Walter Reed’s public affairs officer, said Friday that doctors still need to do some tests as part of the discharge process before a release date is set.

"She is progressing each day," Chidel said of the 20-year-old Palestine, W.Va., native. "Early on, there was a lot of pain. Now she’s looking better, she’s upbeat and she’s very talkative. She participates with her treatments and wants to do more."

The news spread all over Wirt County Friday afternoon.

"I’m really excited that she will be with all her family and friends again," said Julie Watson of Mineral Wells, who played softball with Lynch at Wirt County High School. "It’s like big news to everyone."

And for relatives the wait is almost over.

"We’ll really be glad," said Carl Lynch Sr., her grandfather. "We haven’t seen her for almost a year."

"I’m just tickled to death," said Ramona Lynch, a cousin. "That’s been her dream."

Debbie Hennen, Wirt County assessor, already had heard. She visited with Lynch and her family at Walter Reed last weekend.

"When she comes back, she’s going to give a press conference," Hennen said. "The location is unknown, but it probably won’t be at the home."

Any big community celebration will have to wait.

"Her dad said that if we have a homecoming, it will be next spring when she can enjoy it," Hennen said.

Coleman said Lynch’s travel plans haven’t been finalized.

"The state police, the National Guard and the Wirt County Sheriff’s Department are working on a number of scenarios to provide security for her," he said. "She is going to fly in and land somewhere in Wirt or Wood County."

Lynch’s 507th Maintenance Company convoy was ambushed March 23 near the Iraqi city of An Nasiriyah. Eleven soldiers from the convoy, including two from the 3rd Forward Support Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Division, were killed. Five others were captured and held apart from Lynch for three weeks before their release. Another captured soldier died in captivity.

Lynch, who served as a supply clerk in the Army, received multiple broken bones and other injuries after the Humvee utility vehicle in which she was fleeing from the ambush was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashed into another vehicle in the convoy at a speed of about 45 mph.

She was taken to an Iraqi hospital in An Nasiriyah, where she was rescued by special forces just after midnight on the morning of April 2. After she spent a few days at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, the Army flew her to Walter Reed for continued convalescence and therapy.

And it’s not over.

"She has a long rehabilitation ahead of her," Coleman said.

But Chidel has been impressed with Lynch’s spirit.

"Some patients can be very passive and feel sorry for themselves," she said. "She’s not one of them. Every time I’ve seen her, she’s been very upbeat."

The rescue, recorded on videotape, quickly made an American hero out of the petite blonde from rural West Virginia who joined the Army to get an education and become a kindergarten teacher.

The logistics of Lynch’s homecoming haven’t been finalized.

"The specifics of her return are being discussed and our involvement -- if any -- will be determined at a later date," said Maj. Mike Cadle, public affairs officer for the West Virginia National Guard.

Volunteers have worked since April remodeling the family home in Palestine, about 90 miles northeast of Huntington. The effort, dubbed "Jessi’s Home Project," began with the idea of adding a first-floor handicapped-accessible bedroom and bathroom to the Lynches’ small two-bedroom home.

Volunteers collected so much donated lumber and other building supplies that they decided to remodel the entire house. They ripped out the contents down to the studs.

Lew Peck, a Wirt County deputy sheriff, took several weeks off work to oversee construction. He said Friday he has gladly turned that role over to Lynch’s father, Greg, who is overseeing finishing touches from Washington.

Peck said the house should be finished in about two weeks -- just in time for Lynch’s return.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

© 2003 The Herald-Dispatch"