The real hero behind the 'bravery' of Private Jessica

The real hero behind the 'bravery' of Private Jessica By Julian Coman (Filed: 27/07/2003)

America's most famous woman soldier owes her fame to a case of mistaken identity, reports Julian Coman in Washington

As she watched Private Jessica Lynch's emotional homecoming on television last week, Arlene Walters struggled to suppress her growing anger.

For millions of Americans, Pte Lynch's first faltering steps in her home town of Elizabeth, West Virginia, were a moment of high emotion, a happy ending to one of the darkest incidents of the Iraq war.

For Mrs Walters, however, the standing ovation and praise lavished on the young woman soldier, who was captured by Iraqi forces and later freed in a dramatic American raid, served only to highlight the contrasting treatment of her dead son, who fought in the same unit.

It was, fellow soldiers have told her, Sgt Donald Walters who performed many of the heroics attributed to Pte Lynch in the fanfare of publicity designed to lift the nation's morale, and Sgt Walters who was killed after mounting a lone stand against the Iraqis who ambushed their convoy of maintenance vehicles near Nasiriyah.

Yet few, if any, of the Americans watching Pte Lynch's homecoming last week have even heard her son's name. "The military tell us that everyone who was in her unit was a hero," Mrs Walters told The Telegraph. "In fact they have singled out Jessica Lynch as the hero, and they are not giving the recognition to my son that he deserves.

"The fighter that they thought was Jessica Lynch was Donald. When he was found he had two stab wounds in the abdomen, and he'd been shot once in the right leg and twice in the back. And he'd emptied his rounds of ammunition. Just like they said Jessica had done at first."

Sgt Walters, a 33-year-old military cook from Oregon, blond and slim but not a photogenic female warrior, had been serving with the ill-fated 507th Maintenance Unit, in which Jessica Lynch was a supply clerk.

In the days following the elaborately staged rescue of Pte Lynch from her hospital ward on April 1, a blizzard of American media reports told how the soldier had exhausted all her ammunition before capture, in an isolated and brave "fight to the death".

They suggested that it was only after a prolonged battle, in which she was shot and stabbed, that she was eventually taken prisoner. In all, 11 soldiers were killed and six captured. It subsequently emerged, however, that the young soldier's rifle had jammed and her injuries were caused by her lorry colliding with another vehicle as the convoy came under attack.

Last week, with no fanfare, the US Army released a detailed report into the incident which makes it clear that a lone American fighter did, indeed, hold out against the Iraqis - but that the soldier was not Pte Lynch. It says that following the ambush, Sgt Walters may have been left behind, hiding beside a disabled tractor-trailer, as Iraqi troops closed in. The report confirms that he died of wounds identical to those first attributed to Pte Lynch.

"There is some information to suggest that a US soldier, that could have been Walters, fought his way south of Highway 16 towards a canal and was killed in action. Sgt Walters was in fact killed at some point during this portion of the attack. The circumstances of his death cannot be conclusively determined."

Fellow soldiers who witnessed the ambush have been less guarded. "One told me that if I read reports about a brave female soldier fighting, those reports were actually about Don," said Mrs Walters.

"The information about what had happened had been taken by the military from intercepted Iraqi signals, and the gender had gotten mixed up. He was certain that the early reports had mixed up Jessica and Don."

Mrs Walters and her husband are now struggling to persuade the US military to acknowledge fully their son's bravery. Sgt Walters has been posthumously awarded the bronze medal, but his relatives argue that higher honours are deserved. The army says the investigation into the incident is now closed.

"I just can't imagine him being left out there in the desert alone," said Mrs Walters, who is still haunted by images of her son's lone stand.

"I'm not trying to take anything away from Jessica. We just want Don to get the credit he is entitled to for his bravery."

She has her own theories about the Army's reluctance to give him due credit. "Perhaps the army don't want to admit to the fact that he was left behind in the desert to fight alone," she said. "It isn't a good news story."

Ummmmm,.....Genius, .......Fashion magazines and Hooters Restaraunts are shallow. You and I seem to have different definitions about what a "person's worth" means. Silicone implants in a Hooter's waitress may mean a lot to you. They don't mean much to me.

Where have I said that? I said Lynch is recognized because she was a lone rescuee in a rescue that was the first since WW2.

Look, 3# Fan, we can all take a wild guess by your chosen FreeRepublic name that you are a "Fan".

Huh?

Some people are into that sort of thing. They will spend hundreds of hours of their lives reading People Magazine to find the latest scrap of news about what the cute faces of Hollywood are doing in their private lives and the only murder cases they memorize are the cute face murder cases such as Jon Bennet Ramsey and Laci Petersen.

Yep they sure will. And when you can find me posting on the Ramsey case or the Peterson case, let me know, for I haven't posted anything on those two cases, except to complain about the media using the Peterson case to take away attention from real issues. That was only 4 or 5 posts that day.

I can somehow relate to that. I recall that, as an 8 year old boy, I had quite a crush on Annette Funicello although I had no idea that those Mickey Mouse Club shows on TV after school were 10 year old re-runs and that my 14 year old hearthrob was really a 24 year old "grown-up" making beach blanket movies with Frankie Avalon.

Glad to see that you aren't completely outraged by cuteness then.

I don't object to Pvt. Lynch getting a Bronze Star because I have not seen any copy of the citation to know if it was awarded for something worthwhile such as conduct after her capture. I do object to the Bronze Star being so cheapened (just as the Medal of Honor was cheapened by the end of the Civil War as I noted in Post 107) that many people on this thread now consider the Bronze Star as a meaningless garbage medal. That dishonors veterans of World War II, Korea and the early stages of the Vietnam War that truly earned the honor that the Bronze Star was original meant to signify. I do not object to Pvt. Lynch recieving her due attention as every single servicemember that served or is serving in Iraq deserves that attention.

Yep. Funny that it took this incident to get you so riled up when it's been going on for decades.

I do object to Pvt. Jessica Lynch, U.S. Army, through no fault of her own, being turned by the news media into "Jessica!", the media phenom, so that "Fans" like you can obsess about her and point out that men with adolescent minds also obsess over Hooters girls.

All I can do is repeat that she is recognized because she was a lone rescuee, not because she is cute. Just as Terry Anderson was recognized when he was released. Just as we will all recognize Scott Speicher when his fate is known and we can put that issue to rest. We remember certain people because of circumstance. Your hatred of cuteness is so severe that you see everything as a cute-noncute issue when there is plenty to suggest that this is much more than that.

You claim to have no military experience but have stated in this thread that you have just followed the positions taken by CWOJackson.

And joesnuffy and reports of previous Bronze Star awardees. They know about this issue and the news reports tell of a pattern with these Bronze Stars.

I am sure that CWOJackson and I would both agree that it would have been much better for the honor of earlier World War II, Korea and Vietnam veterans if the Bronze Star had not been cheapened, as was the Medal of Honor was towards the end of the Civil War. I am sure that CWOJackson and I, as veterans with with retirement certificates hanging on our walls, would both agree that "politics" often trumps honor when decisions are made by the PR guys at the Pentagon.

I'm sure you would. And I would agree with that also. But you don't suddenly change the policy for one person, that would be unfair.

I am sure that CWOJackson and I would both agree that it is detrimental to both the military as a whole, to the families of other military servicemembers, to unit cohesion, to individual morale and to the servicemember herself to be singled out as "Jessica! The Gulf War II Babe!" while everyone else who is not cute is relatively ignored.

She is recognized because she is the lone rescuee in a mission that was the first of it's kind since WW2. I would hope that most servicepeople can cheer Jessica and her sacrifices, instead of moan about the fact that they don't get to get on TV like she does. CWOJackson, joesnuffy, and several other veterans here have not shown any jealousy and I think that most servicepeople can recognize a good story when they see one, and Jessica's is a good story.

Private Jessica Lynch, United States Army is a soldier. She deserves more respect than to be turned into the news media's latest Jon Bennett Ramsey for the titillation of adolescent-minded "Fans".

She is recognized for her sacrifices. I'd rather see Jessica Lynch, Shoshana Johnson, Patrick Miller, and Scott Speicher on TV than more George Clooney at an awards ceremony or something.

Just to set the record straight (since you are being somewhat misled), I have always been annoyed by the handling of this story by the media. For one thing, I was bothered by the fact that another female soldier, the American Indian Pfc. Lori Piestewa, was in comparison ignored. She left two children behind, yet I saw no "perks" (movie deals, scholarships, trips to Hawaii, etc.) being offered her family. (By now that may have changed.) Even when it was learned that she had given her life for her country, her story was ignored in comparison to this one.

She had a mountain named after her!

God only knows why. You know me pretty well, so I doubt you're surprised that I'm the type of person who would be bothered by such lopsided treatment by the press. I don't believe it is Pfc. Lynch's fault. In fact, I have said repeatedly in this forum, ad nauseum, that my problem has never been with Pfc. Lynch. It has always been with the media, and with those who are so caught up in this story that they would suggest the Medal of Honor is an appropriate thing to consider in this case. Having read a number of Medal of Honor citations, I find the notion absurd, and I am offended by it - for several reasons, not the least of which is that it (and this obsessive media coverage) puts Pfc. Lynch herself in a terribly awkward position.

The only person I've seen mention the CMOH has been you ad-nauseum.

Tortures are not conducted with car batteries. Go to your car touch the + and - and complete the circuit-and see if you get a shock. The Iraqis were masters of torture and in Iraq and the rest of the crummy world, torture with electricity is not done using car batteries but little hand cranked electric generators. See this example of an Iraqi electrochock torture device: Deep inside the building, there was a small room with no natural light with five tiny cells, all with heavily barred doors. In one, a wire was connected to a small hand-cranked generator and steel bar. Marines who searched the building said it had also been connected to a steel chair in what appeared to be a primitive electric chair.

Put a nine volt battery in you mouth and you'll see that DC volt can sting so I think it's too early for you to say this battery was not used for torture.

I looked up the story on the internet. The battery was found next to a bloody uniform (conjecture on whose it is) nowhere near where Pvt. Lynch was held.

The army thinks there was torture committed there so I think it's too early to say that Lynch wasn't in that hospital. I can't see them getting the uniforms mixed up, given her size.

Late last week, Yarsinske said she had thought Lynch was probably dead after hearing reports last week that the young woman's bloodied uniform had been found by Special Forces soldiers inside a closed Nasiriyah hospital room -- not the same hospital where she was found Tuesday. It was thought that the Iraqis used the room in the shuttered hospital for torture and interrogation. This article also said that "She'd been shot twice, but was said to be in stable condition.". Pvt. Lynch had no gunshot wounds. So what is to be believed if they even got that wrong?

An understandable mistake if it was a mistake. It's hard to tell what exactly caused wounds when you first see them.

I am not saying torture did not happen. I am sure IT DID happen. But no evidence is available for this to have happened to Pvt. Lynch beyond the Iraqi lawyer's (who helped rescue her) account of her being slapped around by an Iraqi officer.

Believe what you will.

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