Saving Pvt. Lynch a big hit in W.Va.

NY Daily News ^ | 04-02-03 | KERRY BURKE and MAKI BECKER

[veronica]

Jessica Lynch, shown in September 2000 photo, was rescued from Iraqi captors yesterday.

Firecrackers popped and horns honked in West Virginia last night as news of Pfc. Jessica Lynch's rescue spread through the tiny town of Palestine. The 19-year-old Army supply clerk who disappeared — and was feared dead — after her maintenance crew was ambushed March 23 in central Iraq was rescued by U.S. Special Forces, Central Command announced last night.

"Oh, mercy! It's been like a big weight has been lifted," Lynch's grandmother Wanema told the Daily News.

"We got the word last Sunday she was captured, and we've been waiting ever since. Waiting, hoping and praying," she said. "We have to thank the Lord for miracles, and he certainly gave us one tonight."

Lynch's father, Greg, was so overcome last night he could barely speak.

"We're just glad it happened," he told a local TV station.

"I'm just so excited," said her mother, Dee. "I'm just speechless."

Nearly every tree in this poor town of 900 people was wrapped with a yellow ribbon in hopes that the dollfaced young woman a month shy of her 20th birthday would return home safely.

"They ran out of yellow ribbons," said another relieved relative, Rheta Lynch.

Costly wrong turn

Five members of Lynch's unit, the 507th Maintenance Company out of Fort Bliss, Tex., were believed to have been captured after taking a wrong turn near Nassiriya.

Two are confirmed dead. Besides Lynch, the fate of seven others from the unit remain a mystery.

U.S. Special Operations forces swooped in and rescued Lynch at Saddam Hospital in Nassiriya after a Marine was handed a note in English that said a woman POW was in the hospital, MSNBC reported.

"She's still alive. She's in room [XXX]," the note read, according to MSNBC.

Capt. Jay La Rossa, spokesman for the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, told Reuters that Lynch had two broken legs and one broken arm, but was in good condition. Early reports that Lynch also suffered at least one gunshot wound could not be confirmed.

La Rossa said Special Forces also found the bodies of two U.S. soldiers.

Iraqi TV has displayed five POWs from the 507th, along with the bodies of several dead soldiers. Sources told The Washington Post that no other POWs were at the hospital at the time.

But yesterday, Lynch's safe return offered a glimmer of hope to the families of other soldiers listed as captured or missing in action.

"I'm happy that she's been rescued," said Claude Johnson, father of Army Spec. Shoshana Johnson, 30, a cook who was shown on Iraqi TV in enemy hands. "I'm keeping my line open for information about my daughter."

[Momto2]

Did you read my post above? I don't know how she got broken bones...... but the Iraqi informant who passed the note (of her location) to our military said she was being tortured!!! How can you doubt this after all we have seen of this monster who kills children and puts his *own* people through shredders???

[Catspaw]

I want them all back, each and every one of them:

Names, Listings of 507th Maintenance

.c The Associated Press

The personnel from the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company who were ambushed March 23 by enemy forces in Iraq, as listed by the Department of Defense:

Rescued:

Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch, 19, Palestine, W.Va.

Dead:

Spc. Jamaal R. Addison, 22, Roswell, Ga.

Pfc. Howard Johnson II, 21, Mobile, Ala.

Whereabouts Unknown:

Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, 38, Cleveland, Ohio

Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, 18, El Paso, Texas

Spc. James M. Kiehl, 22, Des Moines, Iowa

Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, 35, El Paso, Texas

Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, 23, Tuba City, Ariz.

Pvt. Brandon Ulysses Sloan, 19, Bedford, Ohio

Sgt. Donald Ralph Walters, 33, Salem, Ore.

Prisoner of War:

Spc. Edgar Adan Hernandez, 21, Mission, Texas

Spc. Joseph Neal Hudson, 23, Alamogordo, N.M.

Spc. Shoshana Nyree Johnson, 30, El Paso, Texas

Pfc. Patrick Wayne Miller, 23, Walter, Kan.

Sgt. James Joseph Riley, 31, of Pennsauken, N.J.

[monday]

"What ever she did to stay alive will haunt her forever...she was brutalized..tortured..beyond immagination..then shot"

sheesh..how do you know? Talk about being melodramatic. All we know for sure is that she was shot, perhaps several times. We don't know what the circumstances were and frankly it isn't helpful to speculate.

[monday]

"I don't know how she got broken bones...... but the Iraqi informant who passed the note (of her location) to our military said she was being tortured!!! How can you doubt this "

Perhaps, perhaps not. This is what is called hearsay, and it is notoriously unreliable. Once information is retold as many times as yours has it becomes questionable. No offence but she said, he said, he said is simply too far removed from the source for me.

I will wait to hear what Jessica has to say. She is the only one who knows for sure what happened to her.

[Protagoras]

Did you read my post above? You don't get it do you?

See if you can find the poster's imaginary scenerio in the note you speak of.

The poster doesn't want women in the military and used his imagination instead of facts to push his agenda. It's an insult to the brave soldier who suffered, and who's case was used to push an agenda, instead of waiting for the facts and making the case at the appropriate time.

Trying to pretend that I said that torture didn't happen or couldn't happen is goofy. She probably was tortured, but we don't know yet. Much less the gory details outlined in the poster's agenda driven account.

[Protagoras]

She is the only one who knows for sure what happened to her.

You will soon be attacked for all kinds of things you didn't say.

[flutters]

From Parkersburg, West Virginia: http://newsandsentinel.com/news/story/042202003_new03elizabeth.asp

Town of Elizabeth celebrates rescue of Lynch

By CONNIE DALE


ELIZABETH - As firetruck sirens blared and church bells rang, the residents of this small community wee dancing in the streets as they heard the news of Pfc. Jessica Lynch's rescue.

"We'll invite you to the real party; this is only the beginning," said Debbie Hennen, county assessor and leader of several vigils throughout Lynch's time missing in action in Iraq.
Hennen and hundreds of other residents left their homes and went straight to the courthouse square where most of the prayer vigils had been held.

"I was on a local ballfield when a friend called and said Jesse had been found," Hennen said. "I was screaming for joy and crying all at the same time."

Members of Elizabeth-Wirt Volunteer Fire Department manned their trucks to begin a parade throughout the town's streets.

Firefighters like Jason Donley and Daniel Smith held high American flags in front of the courthouse as they sang to the songs playing, such as "Born in the USA" and "Amazing Grace."

Pastor John Watkins of the Southern Baptist Fellowship Church led the courthouse group in prayer just as he did a week ago when Lynch was reported missing.

"We live in a community that prayed to God when she was missing and now prays and rejoices in her rescue," Watkins said. "We prayed as a community for God to watch and protect her, and I believe that God answered our prayers."

One local business, Dick's Market, was very busy with people wanting to stop by and just talk, said Doug Hill, owner.

"This news is better than we could have ever expected," he said. "This brings hope to the other families that have loved ones still missing."

Rose Ruble, an employee at the market, said, "Jesse's capture has changed many lives in this community. I believe people have come to know the Lord this week."

Hennen and friends in the community have planned many fund-raising events for the Lynch family and plan to continue those endeavors, she said.

"We have a "Dip-n-Donate" function planned for April 12, and we will still have that fund-raiser," Hennen said. "Jesse's mother called and told us her daughter always wanted to go to Hawaii, and we are going to raise enough money to send her."

Most of the community never doubted Lynch would come home.

"I took some food to the Lynch home just yesterday (Monday)," said Ellen Vloch of Elizabeth. "Every family member there told me Jesse was coming home. They were always positive, and it helped us all be positive."

[Search4Truth]

Women on the battle field serve no purpose other than to support the feminist agenda of gender equality. They are not needed to win the war and put the lives of our brave men in needless jeopardy.

So men will die just so women can prove that they are every bit a man as men are. But then, so many have already died on the alter of feminism.

[SkyPilot]

SAVING PRIVATE LYNCH would make a great movie....but alas.....

If Hollywood did make it, they would have to tie in a totally inappropriate, ficticious 3-hour "love story" into the script (a la Pearl Harbor), and it wouldn't win an Ocsar anyway because 1/2 of the voting academy would refuse to watch a "war movie"--and they would vote for "Shakespeare in Love--Part Deux."

[Momto2]

OK - see if you believe THIS is "hearsay"...... The DEMOCRAT senator from West Virginia - Sen. Rockefeller - just stated live on FOX NEWS that he had been BRIEFED by the MILITARY and that she HAD been tortured. I *certainly* don't want this to be true - I was only responding to the other poster who sounded like a Saddam supporter to me. It is consistent with the way he operates.
SHEESH .... What a ridiculous argument to get into today when we should all be rejoicing that God protected Jessica and is bringing her home!!!

[ought-six]

"I wish we could get the guy who did this to her and put him in stocks in the town square for all the world to see!"

Actually, I'd prefer to set him out at 200 yards, since I just got a new scope for my 7MM Remington Magnum, and I have to zero it in. I'd prefer sighting in on that bas**rd instead of paper.

[AlwaysFree]

I agree. Let's win this war and bring all our U. S. Service Personnel home to a real heroes welcome.

[veronica]

I think that if women wish to serve on the battlefield they should be allowed to. They do so in Israel. Women have skills that should be untilized in time of war.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

US town celebrates POW rescue

From the fir-lined Appalachian mountains to the hard gravel streets of Nasiriya, 19-year-old Jessica Lynch, a clerk with the 507th Maintenance Company, has made a remarkable journey.
...
When we arrived early this morning, outside her parents' white wood-slat house amidst the trees, it was festooned with yellow ribbons and besieged by reporters.

In a field opposite there was a shaggy horse, a ramshackle barn, a corrugated iron mobile home and millions of dollars of the latest satellite technology to beam this happy scene around the world.

For once, journalists weren't racing around barking into their mobile phones. There was little point because the closest signal was about 30 kilometres (20 miles) away.
...
Excerpts from BBC article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2911785.stm

[MayflowerMadam]

The minute I saw her photo after the rescue I wondered how long it would be before this issue was raised by the black community. Answer: Not long.

[Search4Truth]

"I think that if women wish to serve on the battlefield they should be allowed to. They do so in Israel. Women have skills that should be untilized in time of war. "

Women on the battlefield needlessly increases the risks for men. To what purpose are they there, to prove something?They are not needed to win the war. So how many men's lives you would needlessly put at risk for feminism and political correctness?

[jonalvy44]

The Ballad Of Jessica Lynch
(To the Tune of Davy Crocket)



Born on a mountain top in West Virginia
Poorest state in the land of the free
Raised in the woods so she knew ev'ry tree
Wrestled with her brother ever since she was only three
Jessica, Jessica Lynch, Queen of the Iraqi Campaign!




In 2002 she up and enlisted,
Joining the army is what she knows,
hoping to be a teacher someday
Didn’t take her long to teach
them Iraqis there’ll be hell to pay
So she shoulders her rifle an' off she goes!
Jessica, Jessica Lynch, the girl sure showed no fear!


Off through the desert she's adrivin' along
Makin' up yarns an' a singin' a song
Itchin' fer fightin' an' rightin' a wrong
Her convoy was ambushed, but the American fight sure is strong
Jessica, Jessica Lynch, fightin’ them off like that famed buckskin buccaneer!


Tommy Franks is our general's name,
Supplying his soldiers brought Jessica to fame
Them Iraqi varmints us volunteers'll tame
'cause we got the bombs with the sure-fire aim
Jessica, Jessica Lynch, Queen of the Iraqi Campaign!



Headed to war from the ol' home place
Because Saddam was makin’ us give chase
Fightin' an' burnin' at a devil's pace
South from the swamps of Basra she race
Jessica, Jessica Lynch, trackin’ old Saddam down!



Fought bravely and heroicly thru the second Gulf War
till the Iraqis was whipped an' peace was in store
An' while she was handlin' this risky chore
Made herself a legend for evermore
Jessica, Jessica Lynch, Queen of the Iraqi Campaign!



President Bush give his word and he give his hand
that our Iraqi friends could keep their land
An' the US took the stand
that justice was due every Iraqi band
Jessica, Jessica Lynch, Fightin’ to keep that promise dear!




Now that gal is coming home from war
She fought the fight we’d all couldn’t ignore
An American hero was just what we needed
Right up there with Davy Crockett who never heeded
Jessica, Jessica Lynch, the girl who don’t know no fear!




Her land is biggest an' her land is best
From grassy plains to the mountain crest
She’s ahead of us all meetin' the test
Followin' Davey’s legend into the west
Jessica, Jessica Lynch, Queen of the Iraqi Campaign!