Private First Class
Jessica Lynch's unit was ambushed in Nasiriyah, Iraq. Lynch was only
19 when she was captured, badly injured and raped by Iraqi forces and
held hostage for nine days before her dramatic rescue by US Rangers on
April 1, 2003.
It was back in March 23, 2003, just three days after the start of the Iraq War, when
Controversy surrounds the "mythic" rescue story line. Lynch has blamed the Bush administration
for exaggerating the bravery and success of the war with her story. "I
knew that, even ten years later, I would not have been able to live with
myself knowing that I let those stories escalate and I went along with
what those other people were saying, because I knew in my heart that
that's not really what happened," Lynch told ABC News' Bob Woodruff.
She has been on a 10-year recovery and continues to suffer after 21
surgeries. "Everything took a while to mend and to heal and I guess just
mentally as well and physically," says Lynch. "Two straight years of
full, consecutive physical therapy of trying to get my back and my legs
working again. Trying to get to the point where I could stand up and
walk because I was still in the wheelchair when I came home." Lynch
still wears a brace on her left leg.
She is still reminded of that attack. "It's an everyday remembering. I
mean I wake up, and I look at the injuries. Putting on the brace in the
morning - you know all of that takes me back to that day. But I do. I
wake up, I think to myself, "you know what, I'm so lucky and blessed to
have gotten to come home and rescued and made it out of there alive,"
says Lynch.
Lynch is now a mom to 6-year-old Dakota and although she doesn't know
everything that happened, Lynch says with time she will talk to her
daughter about her experience. "She knows a little bit...she's gone to a
couple of public appearances with me and she's heard me talk a little
bit about the injuries and she knows that I have to wear the brace. I
try to protect her as much as I can, until she's old enough to fully
understand," says Lynch.
Lynch enrolled at the University of West
Virginia at Parkersburg and received her Bachelor's degree in 2011. She
always wanted to be a school teacher and she now substitute teaches.
She's working on her Master's in communications and plans to one day get
her doctorate degree. "I always like to set these small goals for
myself, I like to have something to look forward to, and, I don't know -
that's what gives me the drive and the ambition. I think after I
graduate in the spring, I will look forward to maybe a doctorate
program."
Here's her message for veterans:
"My message is just perseverance. I've looked at life and realized that
no matter what life hands you, because you can't control that, just take
it by storm and strive on and have that attitude that you don't want to
give up, so persevere and strive on."
Jessica Lynch is a former POW honored with a Purple Heart, Bronze
Star, and POW medals. She was rescued by U.S. special forces on April 1,
2003, from an Iraqi hospital in Nasiriyah, where she was being held.
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