Pvt. Lynch shielded by family, doctors

The Mercury News ^ | Apr. 08, 2003 | DANIEL RUBIN, Knight Ridder Newspapers

[flutters]

LANDSTUHL, Germany -- Pfc. Jessica Lynch doesn't know that a full scholarship to any college in West Virginia awaits her homecoming. Or that her night rescue from an Iraqi hospital has made her a symbol of American daring-do and the cover girl on U.S. magazine racks.

[gcruse]

And she wonders if she made the local paper.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

"We're just kind of letting her take her time," her father, Greg Lynch, told reporters Tuesday at Landstuhl medical center in Germany, where her family has flown to help her recover from 10 days of harrowing captivity.

Sounds like she's got a really great family. May God bless them all.

What I'm wondering now is, if she isn't really talking about it or doesn't seem to have a memory of it at this point (at least according to the individual quoted here), where did the story of emptying her weapon and killing Iraqis come from? Does anyone know?

[flutters]

I hope she doesn't have memory of it. The FR thread about the story is here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/883536/posts

[Mo1]

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[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Thank you - but I don't want to sign up at the Washington Post, so I didn't read the whole story at the time - but my question is, if she's the only survivor of the incident (aside from those captured that may still be alive), who told "U.S. officials" what she did, if she didn't?

(If anyone knows, I am curious about that, and I would appreciate you shedding some light there.)

I really cannot imagine the trauma of watching what those animals must have done to the others. May God watch over Pfc. Lynch and help her through the emotional and physical manifestations of this ordeal.

[Rudder]

This whole media circus, not to mention the sudden flight to Germany and back (and more media) just adds to their already huge stress load.

It sounds like Jessica, the miltary and the family are solidly together in their appropriate refusal to give any details.

Besides, no pressure on Jessica is good common-sense therapy.

Life is good.

[Joe 6-pack]

[Rudder]

Beyond (tears in my eyes) cool.

But never forget... When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

[Capriole]

Isn't that sweet. It shows that chivalry isn't dead. Did the boys really stencil this on a bomb or was it simply mocked up at StrangeCosmos? I would like to think they did give Saddam's troops a little gift like this.

[El Gato]

a jet donated by the HJ Heinz Co

Well, Senator Kerrey's wife's heart is in the right place, even if HE has his head up his anal orifice.

[El Gato]

Did the boys really stencil this on a bomb or was it simply mocked up at StrangeCosmos? I would like to think they did give Saddam's troops a little gift like this.

How do you know it wasn't the GIRLS in the bomb shop? Most likely a cooperative venture, assuming it' not photoshopped, and I don't think it is due to the way the seam in bomb case affects the lettering, particularly the last "B".

[patriciaruth]

if she's the only survivor of the incident (aside from those captured that may still be alive), who told "U.S. officials" what she did, if she didn't?

She isn't the only survivor. Apparently two wounded men were left behind when the abushers took off with their captives, and they were found and rescued soon after the incident. They were recently transported to Texas.

I am baffled why this piece of news hasn't been linked to the stories about Private Lynch by the media. But these survivors may be the source of the stories.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Ah, I didn't know anything about that! Thanks!!

[birdsman]

Surely you know that Theresa Heinz donated the plane only to help Kerry politically. She is as much a political opportunist as hitlery herself.

[patriciaruth]

In Washington Post on 3/31/03: Navy Lt. Cdr. Charles Owens... said Iraqi paramilitary forces known as Fedayeen were involved in the attack on the 507th Maintenance Company that left two of the 507th soldiers dead, four wounded, five captured and eight missing.

Among the 507th's wounded are Spc James Grubb of El Paso, and Cpl. Damien Luten of Indianapolis. Luten was shown in ... photographs last week with a teddy bear tied to his stretcher as he was being taken to Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.

He told his mother...that a group of Marines saved him and some other members of the 507th. "A couple of guys got shot up pretty bad," he told her.

Link to full WP story

[Salamander]

It sure looks real because the stencil seems to have lifted at the tip where the bomb curves, thereby producing the "fuzzy" lettering to the far right.
You'd get that effect if the stencil wasn't held perfectly flat, which would be hard to do on such a complex curved surface.

[NMFXSTC]

(Ok...hold off...I'm not gonna get into a P***in' contest...just poiting out the facts, Patty)

"Hospital officials say they are not sure how much Private Lynch remembers.

Initial media reports portrayed Lynch as holding off ambushing Iraqis until she'd emptied her weapons. "We don't know" if that's true, said Shaw. "From what I heard, I think she is one of those people who maybe does not remember. We don't know if she was conscious during that whole ordeal."

It was only after performing surgery from compound fractures in her right arm and left leg that doctors realized that she might have been hit by small caliber gunfire, although Shaw said no bullets or metal fragments were found."

So...if she doesn't remember, and there are no bullet wounds (looks like the docs did a cool job of side-steppng the issue), then where did all of the heroine accounts, Medal of Honor nonsense come from?

I'm sure PFC Lynch has a story...she was a POW, so take nothing from that, but making her an Audie Murphy just doesn't cut it.

[kms61]

I really hope the media latches on to something else before much longer. This young lady deserves to get on with her recovery and the rest of her life without being in the glare of the spotlight. Let the Army and her hometown recognize her. The rest of us should leave her and her family alone.

[patriciaruth]

First, we don't know where the story came from about PFC Lynch firing her weapon when the convoy was ambushed.

I mentioned in the post above, in answer to IwoJimaDaughter's question, that the story might have come from a couple of our wounded survivors of the ambush that were rescued later by Marines.

Evidentally a couple were severely wounded, and may have been in no shape to say anything, but at least one of them was apparently talking after he was rescued.

Now, I have a question for you that I would like you to answer honestly.

If these media reports had been about a male soldier who had been apparently tortured and rescued from the clutches of the Fedayeen, and someone had said that he had emptied his clip in the fight and maybe shot a couple of attackers and had been wounded, would there have been people jumping all over that information and saying it was "b**ls**t" and couldn't possibly be true and "he was the guy that got them lost in the first place" and "he's a whimpering and crying little boy who needs to be home with his mommy."

Seriously, NMFXer, like when Scott was shot down behind enemy lines and managed to evade and escape, was there a thread at FR disrespecting him and saying he was a liar?

What a lot of people haven't seemed to understand about me is that I have been a big military supporter, sending care packages for over a decade, and am a member of AUSA, and have gone to rallies to support the troops, and have a prayer thread for the troops. My foster father died taking a plane off the Saratoga while they were patrolling Libya in 1965. Yes, I feel very attached to all our guys and gals in harm's way and I am going to come out swinging when people imply before THEY have the facts that any one of our service members is not wonderful.

I am so proud of our people and have been so worried for weeks, and it is personal with me, not just an academic exercise, when people start saying nasty things about any of them.

You will not find one post from me where I said "Give her the Congressional Medal of Honor" so don't imply that I have compared her to Audie Murphy once. But someone who has suffered the injuries she has [whether or not she has wounds where the bullet(s) exited is beside the point, in my opinion, she has suffered grievously] and if a man had been rescued with these injuries, and endured enough to say proudly on rescue, "I'm an American soldier, too." I would be proud of him, too. And that was my original comment: Proud to be an American! And I think anyone who isn't proud of Private Lynch is just meanspirited.