Posted on 03/10/2004 8:52:19 AM PST by the_devils_advocate_666
Bob Gay/The Dominion Post Photos
Jessica Lynch, seated beside WVU journalism professor George Esper, laughes at a question about basic training during a surprise visit. Lynch was a guest speaker for the school Tuesday night.
Jessica Lynch (right) is escorted into White Hall by WVU journalism professor George Esper, just before speaking to students. Lynch (far right) smiles at a comment about her mother's T-shirt that said, "My daughter wears combat boots."
BY JAKE STUMP
The Dominion Post
At just 105 pounds and slightly over 5-feet tall, a 20-year-old with her tied-back blonde hair limped down the first few steps of an auditorium-sized WVU classroom Tuesday night.
The journalism students, most of them in their seats a half-hour before the event, must have brushed her off as one of them as they resumed chatting with neighbors.
It all came into focus as she reached halfway down the set of steps. A silver cane helped balance her every move as Professor George Esper assisted her to her seat and microphone. The room grew silent as if someone had sworn in church. Cameras began to flash. And besides the clicking, all you could hear was Jessica Lynch's shoes brush against the carpeted floor.
Lynch, a former prisoner of war and U.S. Army private, made a surprise visit to WVU's White Hall to serve as a guest speaker for the WVU School of Journalism.
The initial silence that swept the room was shattered within minutes as a shy Lynch and a daunted crowd of 100-plus students and faculty warmed up to one another.
Esper, known for covering the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm, broke the silence as he directed comments, jokes and questions to Lynch in an interview/discussion setting.
The Palestine, Wirt County, native spoke of her childhood, smalltown life and the stories -- true and false -- that made her a household name in America's homes.
"My weapon jammed," said Lynch, who was a member of the Fort Bliss, Texas-based 507th Maintenance Co. at the time. "I don't want to take credit for anything I didn't do. I had to tell the truth."
Media reports had Lynch wounded by gunshots and stabbings after her capture last March. It was also reported that she used her weapon to fend off Iraqi soldiers.
"It's so untrue," Lynch said. "I could've went along and told everyone I was a hero and killed all of these people. But it didn't happen."
Nonetheless, many Americans still hold Lynch in a high light.
When she returned home last July, she had 30,000 letters waiting to be read. Her e-mail account was overloaded with messages and shut down.
Of course, Lynch can't read each letter, but she still expresses appreciation for her fans and their support.
Lynch said she answers mail from children who tell her she's a role model and a hero. Some even ask her for solutions to life's little problems.
"I always tell them to never give up," she said.
That's one thing most people can agree on about Lynch: She never gave up.
Lynch was hurt and taken prisoner March 23, 2003, when her unit was ambushed after taking a wrong turn near Nasiriya, Iraq.
Lynch said that she and four other soldiers were riding in a Humvee when a rocket-propelled grenade blasted their vehicle. The impact threw the Humvee into the back of an Army tractor-trailer, and that's when everything went blank, she said.
Eleven soldiers died in the attack -- including all four soldiers riding with Lynch.
She'd been taken to a Nasiriya hospital, where she woke up a few hours after the attack.
Among her injuries, Lynch suffered a head laceration. But she was a good sport about it Tuesday night.
"They shaved my head," she said. "I was very upset about that."
Lynch also suffered three breaks in her left leg, multiple breaks in her right foot and a broken right upper arm.
At one point in the hospital, doctors wanted to amputate one of her legs, Lynch said.
"They put a mask on my face for oxygen," she said. "I knew what they were going to do. They were going to amputate my leg. I just screamed and shook my head. A miracle happened and the doctors stopped."
Despite what they were about to do to Wirt County's biggest celebrity, the doctors saved Lynch's life, she said.
"They gave me a blood transfusion," Lynch said. "Without the blood I needed, I would've died."
Lynch's weight dropped from 105 pounds to 70 pounds during her confinement.
She was served two glasses of orange juice and a few crackers daily. That's not exactly the mashed potatoes and gravy -- her favorite meal -- that she yearned for while laying motionless in a hospital bed.
"It's not a diet I recommend," Lynch said before a roar of crowd laughter. Hospital workers always offered her food, she said, but she was afraid to take it.
"I didn't trust them at the time," she said.
Lynch didn't know what to think. During her hospital stay, she continued to hear explosions and gunfire. On April 1, 2003, the chaos got louder and closer.
"I knew they were getting closer by hearing bombs," Lynch said. "I thought they'd blow up the building. Everyday was a nightmare for me to wake up to."
Acting on a tip, U.S. special operations forces muscled into the hospital to rescue her.
"Soldiers came into the room and said, 'We're American soldiers,'" Lynch said. "I said, 'I'm an American soldier, too.'"
At last, Lynch was safe. The pain, however, would continue.
She didn't realize the media circus that emerged from her ordeal until she reached Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
She didn't know about her fellow soldiers' deaths until learning about them on TV newscasts back in the United States.
One of those soldiers was her best friend, Pfc. Lori Piestewa, 23, who was driving the Humvee at the time of attack.
"She taught me about friendship," Lynch said. "She made me stronger. I was too much of a girly girl. I let people run over me and boss me."
Lynch recently established the Jessica Lynch Foundation to assist children of soldiers. Piestewa had two children.
At the end of the discussion, Lynch told the attentive crowd to never take life for granted, to tell friends and family how much they love them and to never give up.
The latter is something Lynch plans to carry out for the rest of her life, even if it means figuring out why the world changed for her in the sands of Iraq last year.
"There's a reason for everything," she said. "I've got to find out what that reason is for me."
Do I at least get to pick the officers and NCO's? I can train up the troops, if I've got good leadership.;-)
And I wonder exactly how much good a black belt in anything is going to do a 105-lb woman against a 210-lb man when the guy is serious. Which one would you choose to fight against if forced?
105lbs of karate black belt is tougher than me. I wouldn't want to fight either one hand to hand. That's why I learned to shoot.
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