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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: Arkie2
Air Force for 20 years, retired as a LtCol...

The Air Force stopped giving away awards like candy, they just created a whole pile of their own unique awards for such things like professional advancement (getting promoted earns you a medal now in the USAF).

61 posted on 07/27/2003 3:00:10 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: Arkie2
That's interesting. I served in the Air Force for 20 years, retired as a LtCol, participated in the Gulf War and I don't ever recall a case of someone being awarded a Bronze Star for bumping their head on their vehicle and jamming their gun. I have a cousin who fought in Vietnam who did get a Bronze Star for walking through a live minefield to retrieve one of his buddies who had stepped on one of the mines. Maybe they've changed the rules since I was in. Maybe they give Bronze Stars away like candy now. But I doubt it.

All I can say is read the other posts on this thread. There are those that have them that don't have a problem with Jessica and hers.

62 posted on 07/27/2003 3:00:22 PM PDT by #3Fan
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To: the Deejay
"the Iraqi dude that led them there." .......That dude really did some serious travelling on foot. Not only the 3 trips to save Jessica, but then returning home, and disappearing into the desert on foot with his family. (Endangering his life, his wife's & their daughter.)

U.S. military medals are not awarded to civilians but I certainly hope that that brave Iraqi was awarded a few thousand "Benjamin Franklin Awards for Meritorious Service"


63 posted on 07/27/2003 3:01:11 PM PDT by Polybius
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To: JoeSchem
Take away something she didn't earn? Why, the politically incorrect thought never crossed my mind /sarcasm/
64 posted on 07/27/2003 3:01:20 PM PDT by Arkie2 (It's a literary fact that the number of words written will grow exponentially to fill the space avai)
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To: DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet
The Purple Heart is unique in and of itself. Only those who received wounds in combat (the only criteria) received that. The Bronze and Silver Stars are for individual actions and/or conduct.
65 posted on 07/27/2003 3:01:23 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: boxerblues
No, that's some Army ribbon (not medal) that you get for completing Army boot camp.
66 posted on 07/27/2003 3:01:30 PM PDT by Poohbah (Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.)
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To: #3Fan
My husband had two DFCs and seven Bronze Stars. He sure as hell didn't earn them by getting thown off of a Humvee.
67 posted on 07/27/2003 3:02:17 PM PDT by annyokie (Admin Moderator has got it in for me.)
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To: csvset
Thanks for the link about Sgt. Donald Walters.
68 posted on 07/27/2003 3:02:28 PM PDT by protest1
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To: Poohbah
How do you know she didn't yield under torture?
69 posted on 07/27/2003 3:02:37 PM PDT by Arkie2 (It's a literary fact that the number of words written will grow exponentially to fill the space avai)
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To: CWOJackson
I understand; it's just that I thought there were perhaps two people in her unit that were not given Bronze Stars...I'll try to find that information again and see if I read it wrong.
70 posted on 07/27/2003 3:02:43 PM PDT by DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet
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To: annyokie
Then why did you accept them? My husband refused his Purple Hearts because he was serving his country and doing his duty. What makes you special? You've already admitted you didn't earn your decorations.

If your father was wounded he should've accepted recognition for that. It's up to the military commanders who gets one and people should accept recognition.

71 posted on 07/27/2003 3:03:08 PM PDT by #3Fan
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To: nravoter
"How, exactly? Anybody could be in a vehicle accident and get captured."

This is the John McCain syndrome. All he did to attain HERO status was to crash a plane. I suspect virtually 100% of freepers could accomplish the same. After that he was a prisoner, alleged to have received somewhat better treatment than his co-prisoners.
72 posted on 07/27/2003 3:03:15 PM PDT by lawdude (Liberalism: A failure every time it is tried!)
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To: Poohbah
guess I need to get off FR for a while a do a ittle military medal research :) have a good night
73 posted on 07/27/2003 3:03:26 PM PDT by boxerblues (God Bless the 101st, stay safe, stay alert and watch your backs)
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To: annyokie
After putting up with your attitude your husband probably though being wounded in combat was minor in comparison.
74 posted on 07/27/2003 3:03:29 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: annyokie
Being injured in a vehicular accident doesn't earn one a Bronze Star. See my previous post about the Bronze Star.

Apparently that is not why she was awarded the Bronze Star. To suggest that is to demean the efforts of all the soldiers who fight for your freedom.

I went over the report yesterday (from another thread) and if you would read it, you would learn that there are facts still being uncovered, and there is actually not even mention of PFC Lynch being captured, which we know she was. If they left that part out due to an ongoing investigatoin (which the official report says is still happening), then what else was left out? That she defended her fellow patriots?

Clam up until the facts are all in.

75 posted on 07/27/2003 3:04:07 PM PDT by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: CWOJackson
A little interservice slam?
76 posted on 07/27/2003 3:04:27 PM PDT by Arkie2 (It's a literary fact that the number of words written will grow exponentially to fill the space avai)
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To: Arkie2
Never...
77 posted on 07/27/2003 3:05:09 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: OldCorps
why don't you grow up and get a life. Obviously you've never served a day in uniform. Don't talk about things of which you are ignorant. It shows.

I can talk about what I want, it's what you served for. And based on your posts, I know more about this situation than you do. That's a disgrace. Don't you care enough to even stay informed?

78 posted on 07/27/2003 3:05:17 PM PDT by #3Fan
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To: CWOJackson
You must be the king of cheap shots.
79 posted on 07/27/2003 3:05:27 PM PDT by Arkie2 (It's a literary fact that the number of words written will grow exponentially to fill the space avai)
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To: annyokie; CWOJackson
My husband refused his Purple Hearts because he was serving his country and doing his duty. What makes you special? You've already admitted you didn't earn your decorations.

His humility makes him special, for one. His humble understatement of his own valor to have received three bronze stars in his career speaks a lot louder to me than your venom.

Thank you for your service CWOJackson.

80 posted on 07/27/2003 3:06:36 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
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