Freed POW Jessica Lynch, whose rescue from an Iraqi hospital at the height of the war against Saddam Hussein captured the hearts and imagination of the country, finally returned to her West Virginia hometown yesterday – and got a hero’s welcome.
“It’s great to be home,” the wheelchair-bound Lynch said as thousands of flag-waving well-wishers gathered to greet her along a motorcade route and neighbors sang “God Bless America” beside a huge flag that she saw as she arrived by helicopter.
“I’d like to say thank you to everyone who helped and prayed for my return,” Lynch said. “I’m proud to be a soldier in the Army. I’m proud to have served with the 507th. I’m happy that some soldiers I served with made it home alive. It hurts that some of my company didn’t.”
Lynch, 20, also said she was “thankful to several Iraqi citizens who helped save my life while I was in their hospital.”
Lynch, dressed in a beret and green Army dress uniform, arrived in Elizabeth, W.Va., just before 2 p.m. aboard a Blackhawk helicopter from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where she spent more than 100 days recovering.
She spoke at a press conference before parading along a five-mile route to her home in tiny Palestine.
Lynch – who has trouble standing and can walk only with the help of a walker – said she had little idea during her convalescence how much attention the story of her ordeal had attracted.
“But I’m beginning to understand because I’ve read thousands of cards and letters – many of them from children – that offer messages of hope and faith,” she said.
Lynch was among the members of the Army’s 507th Maintenance Company ambushed on March 23 while moving in a convoy near the city of Nasiriyah.
Eleven U.S. soldiers were killed in the attack, and five others captured.
But Lynch, a petite blonde who joined the Army to earn money for college so she could be a kindergarten teacher, made the biggest headlines.
On April 1 – after days of bad news and tough going for the U.S. war effort – the military announced the dramatic res- cue of Lynch by combined Special Forces from an Iraqi hospital.
The story of Lynch’s rescue drew world attention for its Hollywood quality, but later reports showed her liberators faced no opposition and she got the best care that the Nasiriyah hospital could provide.
Lynch said yesterday that one element recounted in many stories of her rescue is correct – her first word to her American rescuers.
“Those stories were right,” she said. “Those were my words. ‘I’m an American soldier, too.’ “
The five other captured members of her unit were liberated on April 13. Lynch yesterday remembered her good friend and roommate, Pfc. Lori Piestewa 23, who was among those killed in the ambush.
“She fought beside me,” Lynch said. “And it was an honor to have served with her.”
The parade route to Lynch’s family home in Palestine was lined with some 2,000 well-wishers and hundreds of yellow ribbons. The private returned with a long list of medals, including the Bronze Star for meritorious combat service, the Purple Heart for her wounds and the Prisoner of War medal for her time in captivity.
The house to which she returned was hardly the humble home she left. It was renovated with an enlarged second floor and a wrap-around porch by volunteers from her small community.
“I was up at the house last night,” said Lynch cousin Brenda Slack. “It’s a new house – what those volunteers have done is amazing.”
With Post Wire Services