Lynch starts college in West Virginia
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch started college yesterday, going largely unnoticed - as she had hoped - among 4,600 other freshmen at West Virginia University.
Despite her cane and leg brace, most students didnÕt pay any extra attention to the 22-year-old former Army supply clerk from Palestine, W.Va.
"SheÕs familiar but not that familiar," said LynchÕs publicist, Aly Goodwin Gregg. "SheÕs been so out of the news for so long, sheÕs not readily recognizable - which I think she appreciates."
A convoy from LynchÕs 507th Army Maintenance Company took a wrong turn and was attacked in the Iraqi town of Nasiriyah in March 2003. Eleven U.S. soldiers were killed, and six were captured, including Lynch.
She suffered two spinal fractures, nerve damage and a shattered right arm, right foot and left leg when her Humvee crashed during the battle, and she became a celebrity after she was rescued from an Iraqi hospital.
© 2005 Associated Press
© 2005 The Columbia Daily Tribune