Jessica Lynch Awarded Bronze Star !

Kansas City Star ^ | 7/22/2003 | Gavin McCormick

[ex-Texan]

Jessica Lynch Awarded Bronze Star

Lynch Gets Medals Ahead of Homecoming

ELIZABETH, W.Va. - Former POW Jessica Lynch was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart in Washington Monday as she prepares for her homecoming.

Lynch, who returns to the hills of West Virigina Tuesday, also received Prisoner of War medals at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. The Bronze Star is given for meritorious combat service, a Purple Heart is most often awarded to those wounded in combat, and the POW for being held captive during wartime.

"The Purple Heart ... was not necessarily about being wounded or injured in action initially, but that's what it has come to symbolize," said Lt. Gen. James B. Peake, the Army Surgeon General, in presenting the medals. "It's a special award and not one you choose to get."

Four members of the West Virginia Army National Guard's aviation support unit in Parkersburg were chosen to staff the helicopter that she will ride home in.

"Minus all the hype, this mission is about being able to participate in the homecoming of one of our own," said Chief Warrant Officer Robert McClure, who will co-pilot the Black Hawk helicopter with Chief Warrant Officer Jim McPeak. "It's a real honor."

Lynch, still recuperating from multiple broken bones and other injuries, and her parents are scheduled to fly from the medical center to Elizabeth. The 210-mile trip should last two to three hours, depending on the weather.

Also on both legs of the flight will be Lynch's cousin, Dan Little, a first sergeant in the Parkersburg National Guard unit.

"Jessi trusts him and wanted him to be with her because he's been through most of it with her," said Wyonema Lynch, Lynch's grandmother, noting that Little traveled to Germany when Lynch was recuperating there.

Little, who has spoken twice with Lynch in the past week, said her spirits have been buoyed by her imminent trip home.

"She's a strong, disciplined young lady," Little said. "Her injuries are long healing, and that can be hard if you dwell on it. But she's not allowed that to happen."

With hundreds of news media and others descending on this Wirt County seat of about 1,000 for Lynch's first public comments about her ordeal, area residents have been painting, pruning and preening for weeks.

"We are excited just to see her, just to be able to give her hug. To Jessi, home is in the hills. She has been wanting to get here," her grandmother said.

Regina Ray of Elizabeth said she is glad Lynch is coming home "because there is no place like home to recover."

American flags and yellow bows line the route Lynch's military motorcade will take from Elizabeth to her home in Palestine, a community of about 300 residents some five miles away.

Lynch is scheduled to make a brief statement in Elizabeth before riding in a Ford Mustang convertible in the motorcade.

Lynch's convoy was ambushed near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah after it made a wrong turn. Eleven soldiers from the convoy were killed and Lynch, a supply clerk, was severely injured.

U.S. forces recovered Lynch at a Nasiriyah hospital April 1. Five other 507th Maintenance Company soldiers who were captured and held apart from Lynch were freed April 13.

The influx of hundreds of visitors, including many journalists here to report Lynch's first public words since her March wounding, capture and rescue in Iraq, is bringing needed cash to Wirt County, which has West Virginia's highest unemployment rate - 15.1 percent.

The economic benefits dampen the annoyance many residents feel at the intense media interest in Lynch.

"They're anxious to see you come, and they'll be anxious to see you leave," said Keith Burdette, Gov. Bob Wise's legislative liaison and the county's former state senator.

Also on the flight will be the crew chief, Sgt. 1st Class Vernon Cosner of Washington, and flight medic, Sgt. Paula Tucker of Morgantown.

[XJarhead]

No medals for them because they got killed too soon?

Well, yeah. You aren't supposed to get meritorious-type medals just for "being there". You get them for doing something. If one guy gets knocked unconscious before he knows he's under attack, and the other one survives and fights courageously for 6 hours to protect the other, the latter should get something more because he did something more.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Is this a branch-specific thing? I've read that the Army has given out more Medals of Honor than any other branch of service (because their standard for giving the medal is more liberal than that of other branches) - do you know that to be true, and does that translate into other awards as well?

[Gunrunner2]

>>Supposedly she tried to fight but her gun jammed.<<

Yes, some said she was a regular Audi Murphy, but, because everyone else is dead and Jessica can't recall a thing. . .how can we say her gun jammed and that she tried to fight?

We can't.

According to recent reports, she was banged-up pretty badly by the crash and suffered injuries that incapacitated her.

>>That's worth a bronze star these days?<<

Apparently so.

[dark_mooncat]

The official parameters for the award of a Bronze Star [scroll down, other decorations listed first]

http://www.americal.org/awards/achv-svc.htm

"3-13. Bronze Star Medal

a. The Bronze Star Medal was established by Executive Order 9419, 4 February 1944 (superseded by Executive Order 11046, 24 August 1962).

b. The Bronze Star Medal is awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the Army of the United States after 6 December 1941, distinguished himself or herself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight, in connection with military operations against an armed enemy; or while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.

c. Awards may be made for acts of heroism, performed under circumstances described above, which are of lesser degree than required for the award of the Silver Star.

d. The Bronze Star Medal may be awarded for meritorious achievement or meritorious service according to the following:

(1) Awards may be made to recognize single acts of merit or meritorious service. The lesser degree than that required for the award of the Legion of Merit must nevertheless have been meritorious and accomplished with distinction.

(2) Award may be made by letter application to Commander, ARPERCEN, ATTN: DARP-VSE-A, 9700 Page Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63132-5200 (enclosing documentary evidence, if possible), to each member of the Armed Forces of the United States who after 6 December 1941, has been cited in orders or awarded a certificate for exemplary conduct in ground combat against an armed enemy between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945, inclusive, or whose meritorious achievement has been other wise confirmed by documents executed prior to 1 July 1947. For this purpose, an award of the Combat Infantryman Badge or Combat Medical Badge is considered as a citation in orders. Documents executed since 4 August 1944 in connection with recommendations for the award of decorations of higher degree than the Bronze Star Medal will not be used as the basis for an award under this paragraph.

(3) Upon letter application, award of the Bronze Star Medal may be made to eligible soldiers who participated in the Philippine Islands Campaign between 7 December 1941 to 10 May 1942. Performance of duty must have been on the island of Luzon or the Harbor Defenses in Corregidor and Bataan. Only soldiers who were awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation (Presidential Unit Citation) may be awarded this decoration. Letter application should be sent to the Commander, ARPERCEN, ATTN: DARP-VSE-A, 9700 Page Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63132-5200."

For emphasis: "distinguished himself or herself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service...in connection with military operations against an armed enemy" I remember saying at the time if the initial descriptions of her conduct were accurate, I believed she deserved a Bronze Star with a V [appended to recognize life and limb being risked in the face of the enemy].

One thing that makes me uncomfortable about this is there has been no detailed explanation of her conduct. The recent official account contains nothing that would merit even a Purple Heart [they were fired upon, the driver panicked and wrecked the vehicle into a stationary object, thus causing the totality of their injuries].

I would like nothing better than to see Pfc Lynch receive any decoration she deserves. The case has not yet been made.

[Gunrunner2]

>>You don't want to know what happened and I do. <<

You and every SERE school in the US.

Information on what happens and what may happen are vital and need to be shared in order that others may be better informed and better aware of the risks, so that when those risks are faced, you are not caught un-prepared.

The fact that 100% of female POWs from the first Gulf War were raped, this leads to an assumption that rape is a weapon of war directed against women (mostly).

Moreover, raping female POWs is a weapon the enemy may use aginst male soldiers.

[XJarhead]

I can't say what the current practice is, but I recall that there was a huge disparity in the number of medals awarded per soldier v. per Marine in Grenada. I remember seeing those stats awhile back, and perhaps someone else can dig them up for you.

My sense is that the Corps is much tighter on the awarding of medals, but I can't really quantify that for you. But if your dad was an Iwo Jima vet, I'm quite sure that he earned any medal he was awarded, and probably some he wasn't. Semper Fi.

[ibbryn]

nice summnation and, IMHO, you have it exactly right.

[Capt.YankeeMike]

ok, thats cool. but what did they guys that SAVED her get?
The Capt.

[ibbryn]

upon further reading, it seems that this award has been pretty cheapened. Apparently you get it just for showing up. Kinda sad for all those who earned it.

[Gunrunner2]

EXACTLY the right question to be asking.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

My dad was given a Purple Heart. He was temporarily paralyzed - had fourteen shrapnel wounds, some scars looked like permanent dents from a baseball, and shrapnel lodged near his spine for life, too close to it to remove. He essentially kept himself alive (on Iwo Jima) for eight hours, waiting for evac...not being able to move, that was about all he could do.

He never thought he deserved more, and his Purple Heart really meant something to him.

Given that that is my paradigm, I struggle a little bit with how things have changed.

Semper Fi, XJarhead.

[Capt.YankeeMike]

I mean, is it like my sons (sickenly) politically correct baseball team, where everyone of them got the same trophy, no matter how good/bad/ indifferent their performance was?

Again, i ask, what did the guys that SAVED her get????

[sailor4321]

Does anybody know how the special order or citation in fact reads? That will set out what she did that the Army believes warrants such an award....all else is pure, useless speculation/opinionating.

[journey7873]

Jessica has been made into a Jesus figure. Why is she getting soooo much press?

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Thanks, xzins.

[Thorondir]

No, no NOOOO! Absolutely not. My friends are all geting banned and my posts are getting pulled right and left, so I'm being a good and agreeable little boy now.

Cynicism? Noooo sireee.

[Thorondir]

Oh, that's absolutely right! Nothing to pull here. You are right and were right all along and most likely always will be. (bowing low in the most subservient manner possible) She is the greatest of heroes! Nothing to get upset about here. That whole convoy deserves overflowing handfuls of shiney medals. Please don't ban me. Eery fiber of my body and soul is in total agreement with everything kind and nice and PC that has been posted on this forum today--and yesterday, too! Don't forget yesterday! Blah blah, yadda yadda, nothing controversial. Happy happy joy joy! Everyone pick up and pet a kitty cat!

[Tailgunner Joe]

Gee, can't we just feel good about Jessica's return without all this naysaying?

[MEG33]

There's nothing about this to feel good about.The ambush,the deaths,injuries,and POWs..except that they were rescued and are alive.I'm going to say God bless all the armed forces and move on.I'll leave it to others to feel good or really,bitter,angry,outraged,etc.

[Thorondir]

Oh, yes! It's good to be an army of nONE. Nave a black beret on me! In fact, let's all wear TWO black berets so we can all feel doubly special! (nothing to pull here) Everything is beautifull in it's own waaaaaay. EVERYBODY sing! (please don't ban me) Happy happy joy joy! PC is good and very SMART! Oh, our nation's enemies are going to LIKE us!