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The real hero behind the 'bravery' of Private Jessica
The Daily Telegraph ^ | 27/07/2003 | Julian Coman

Posted on 07/27/2003 2:19:40 PM PDT by protest1

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."


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: donaldwalters; hero; iraqifreedom; jesicalynch; jessicalynch; pow; sgtdonaldwalters; unsungheroes
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To: protest1
I don’t know or care how the media played this. And my thoughts and prayers are with everyone over there and all people serving this country.

I do think that this young girl probably suffered other things a male soldier wouldn’t have in the first day or days of being at the mercy/whim of these people.

Im glad she was with palls that tried to defend her and themselves in this situation.

I would think I would have done the same if I was there.
401 posted on 07/29/2003 9:37:00 PM PDT by zoen
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To: CWOJackson; OldCorps
My money's on OldCorps. CWOJackson has been hiding behind Pfc Lynch's skirts this entire thread to try to shut down anyone who has a different perspective on some very complex issues.

FWIW, I personally don't have that big a problem with Lynch getting the BSM because I understand that it has become something different over time and is sort of like an honorable discharge at this point. But other people have legitimate questions or even complaints, and that is their right.
402 posted on 07/29/2003 9:37:21 PM PDT by Iwo Jima
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To: Destro
lets hope the posthumous award to SGT Walters was an interim award pending an investigation to see if a higher award like a DSC or Silver Star should be awarded.
403 posted on 07/29/2003 9:41:08 PM PDT by OldCorps
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To: boxerblues
Yes, they did.
404 posted on 07/29/2003 9:42:59 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Iwo Jima
Everyone is entitled to their opinion but the only thing that really matters is that the Army decided she was deserving of the award and issued it to her. In the end, their decision trumps all opinion.
405 posted on 07/29/2003 9:44:35 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: Howlin
Evening Howlin.
406 posted on 07/29/2003 9:45:34 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: CWOJackson
Good evening, kind sir!
407 posted on 07/29/2003 9:48:02 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Howlin
I see the mangy one is making a fool of himself on the Day in the Life Thread. He never learns.
408 posted on 07/29/2003 9:50:22 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: CWOJackson
I don't question the decision, but others have and, you know, it's a free country. I have found your conduct on this thread to be unbecoming. I have said my piece and now I am done.
409 posted on 07/29/2003 9:51:51 PM PDT by Iwo Jima
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To: CWOJackson
Uh huh.
410 posted on 07/29/2003 9:53:07 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Iwo Jima
Glad you find it unbecoming, I find some of the comments made about Private Lynch disgusting. I guess it's all in perspective.
411 posted on 07/29/2003 9:53:23 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: CWOJackson
Me too. But the problem is that she has become what amounts to the poster child for the Iraqi war...when we all know there are more deserving. At least in the past there were more deserving.

No, not her fault. She's a victim of circumstance.

Meantime we still having a missing pilot from 91 in Iraq.

If we need a poster, it should be someone like Scott.
412 posted on 07/29/2003 10:01:33 PM PDT by takenoprisoner (stand for freedom or get the helloutta the way)
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To: protest1
I would like to see more recognition of the real Heroes of the ambushed convoy.

What the hell is going on here? Has serving in the Armed Forces become a recognition thing? Most of the real heroes of any war are forgotten or not given the recognition they deserve. Many that get the recognition may not deserve it compared to someone in their unit that fought harder and smarter and died. The spoils of war are not medals, parades, or the like. It's knowing you did your best in a very trying situation. Stuff that recognition crap.
413 posted on 07/29/2003 10:03:43 PM PDT by jwh_Denver (Found another one.)
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To: takenoprisoner
That's been part of my point all along.

All along Private Lynch has just done her duty. She was injured in combat, taken away from all other contact with other POWs and according to witnesses at the hospital itself, tortured...and throughout all of this she constantly maintained that she was a United States soldier.

Now she's forced into the spot light and is doing her duty when I'm sure she would just as soon be left alone to recover and grieve for the best friend she lost.

And at the same time the Air Force is passing out Bronze Stars like candy in a parade, even to an airman in Ohio for their contribution in Iraq from the frontlines of Dayton, Ohio. But I don't see anyone questioning that or many other similar awards of the Bronze Star that have been documented on this thread by those who are simply questioning whether that young soldier deserves hers.

414 posted on 07/29/2003 10:09:46 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: CWOJackson
Lynch is media hype promoted for whatever motive by the DOD.

Whatever the circumstance which has led her to this distinction, (beyond her real injuries sustained in the vehicle accident), she will do her duty and take her place.

Meantime, some may disagree freely that she is or is not deserving of the distinctions placed upon her. In this case, I question the motive for this distinction, and not what Lynch may have done or not done deservedly or undeservedly.

You know me, it's just my nature.

415 posted on 07/29/2003 10:26:24 PM PDT by takenoprisoner (stand for freedom or get the helloutta the way)
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To: protest1
This story gets curiouser and curiouser.
416 posted on 07/29/2003 10:29:10 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (®)
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To: takenoprisoner
The only reason I don't believe the Army gave her the medal for hype is because it is the Bronze Star. If there were trying to play her up as some sort of special hero it would be an award higher then what they are giving to airmen in Ohio. Now if they gave her the Silver Star it would be in my nature to be suspicious as well.

Good thing she's not a cop, you and I would get thrown into the cooler.

417 posted on 07/29/2003 10:41:07 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: CWOJackson; All
Does a POW auto qual for Bronze?
418 posted on 07/29/2003 10:51:35 PM PDT by takenoprisoner (stand for freedom or get the helloutta the way)
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To: takenoprisoner
No. They do almost automatically get the POW medal.
419 posted on 07/29/2003 10:55:21 PM PDT by OldCorps
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To: takenoprisoner
That is not a specific criteria for awarding the Bronze Star; the criteria is based on personal conduct and performance. Most of the ex-POWs were awarded the Bronze Star or higher awards; which I assume are based on their personal conduct and behaviour in the face of the enemy. So apparently someone in authority has determined that the behaviour of these POWs did indeed merit at least that award.

Although normally associated with direct combat action, the Bronze Star is routinely awarded for non-combat actions which is why there is the "V" device to distinquish the nature of performance being recognized. However, the Bronze Star is traditionally the lowest award that is usually given for actions performed in combat which her actions would indicate.

Her award could have been awarded by any commander with that level of issuing authority, however, it most likely still processed through an awards board where merit was measured against established criteria.

420 posted on 07/29/2003 11:00:55 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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