Details of Jessica Lynch's Rescue

[southerngale]

CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar — Frightened and seriously wounded, a 19-year-old supply clerk who was held by Iraq for more than a week at first hid under a sheet when a team of U.S. military commandos stormed into her hospital room.

"Jessica Lynch," called out an American soldier, approaching her bed. "We are United States soldiers and we're here to protect you and take you home."

Peering from behind the sheet as he removed his helmet, she looked up and said, "I'm an American soldier, too."

In the first details released about the daring rescue of Pfc. Lynch, a Central Command spokesman told a briefing Saturday that a team of Navy Seals, Marine commandos, Air Force pilots and Army Rangers worked with U.S. Special Forces in the rescue Tuesday in Nasiriyah.

While troops engaged the Iraqis in another part of the city, the team persuaded an Iraqi doctor to lead them to Lynch, said Air Force Maj. Gen. Gene Renuart.

Lynch, now recuperating at the military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, had suffered a head wound and fractures in her right arm, both legs, her right foot and ankle, and an injury to her spine.

The rescue team quickly evaluated her medical condition, secured her to a stretcher and carried her to a waiting helicopter, Renuart said.

"Jessica held up her hand and grabbed the Ranger doctor's hand, and held onto it for the entire time, and said, 'Please don't let anybody leave me,'" Renuart said. "It was clear she knew where she was and didn't want to be left anywhere near the enemy."

Meanwhile, the Iraqi doctor told the team there were remains of other U.S. forces nearby, and they were led to a burial site. Because they had not brought shovels, Renuart said, the team dug up the bodies with their hands.

"They wanted to do that very rapidly, so they could race the sun and be off the site before the sun came up," Renuart said. "It's a great testament to the will and desire of coalition forces to bring their own home."

Renuart did not shed any new light on how Lynch sustained her wounds — whether she was injured in captivity or when the 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed March 23 when they made a wrong turn in Nasiriyah.

Eight of the dead soldiers found during the rescue were members of the ambushed unit, Renuart said. The ninth was a soldier from a forward support group of the Army's Third Infantry Division, he said. All have been transported back to the United States.

Lynch's family in West Virginia said doctors had determined she'd been shot. They found two entry and exit wounds "consistent with low-velocity, small-caliber rounds," said her mother, Deadra Lynch.

She had a back operation Thursday and surgery for other broken bones Friday, said the commander of the hospital, Col. David Rubenstein. A friend is at her bedside and although she's still being fed intravenously, she's drawn up a list of her favorite foods for the hospital: turkey, steamed carrots and applesauce.

"Her emotional state is extremely good. She's jovial. She's talking with staff," Rubenstein said.

Lynch's family was to fly Saturday from from Charleston, W.Va., to Germany to see her.

While the U.S. team was in the hospital, Renuart said, they also found a weapons cache and a large-scale sandbox model in the basement that accurately depicted U.S. and Iraqi positions in Nasiriyah.

[streetsoldier]

Further reports have indicated that the infamous "Chemical Ali" was using that hospital as a forward HQ, and may have visited there at the same time she was.

This is the guy believed responsible for the mass murder of the Kurds by chemical weapons, and he is way up on our "to capture" list of war criminals.

"Small caliber, low-velocity" fits the AK-74 5.56 x 39R Russian round well; this is the AK variant seen on every street corner in Iraq's military-security force's hands. It is best described as an a elongated .22 round with a slightly heavier powder charge behind it, but not as potent as the .223 NATO cartridge the U.S. and coalition forces use.

[JetMaxx]

"Jessica held up her hand and grabbed the Ranger doctor's hand, and held onto it for the entire time, and said, 'Please don't let anybody leave me,'" Renuart said.

That poor baby
Every time I read something like that, I get very teary eyed. I'm certain I'm not the only one (from the emails I'm recieving, many tears have been shed over Jessica).

She's the bravest young lady I've ever seen, but everyone has a breaking point. Her threshold is far higher than mine....and I venture many on this forum. I don't mean "poor baby" as a put-down in any way. I feel for her...in extreme pain, half starved, and not wanting to be left alone with those evil monsters again....just wanting to go home

Perry

[Rainband]

Thank god she is safe!!!! I am so grateful to those soldiers that saved her..Great job guys!!

Johnathan

[pojo]

I'm just glad she is safe and that her parents are by her side.

[streetsoldier]

Finally, a medical spokesman confirmed her gunshot wounds...I wonder why the "powers-that-be" tried to sanitize her condition?

As to the 4-on-one kill ratio...this isn't surprising for a ridge-runner gal from the "high lonesome" who didn't want to be taken alive.

[JetMaxx]

I agree streetsoldier...I grew up with guns, and my sister can still outshoot me any day of the week.

[streetsoldier]

Latest update from Landstuhl Hospital is that PFC Lynch's right forearm and left leg injuries were caused by enemy small-arms fire; her multiple surgeries were to insert metal pins and rods to stabilize the bones, but as yet there are no details as to how she incurred the other injuries.

She saw her family in two brief visits so far; however, she is too weak to undergo debriefing, and there is some opinion that her memory may only be of the immediate firefight, her capture and the days in captivity before the rescue, as her injuries were so severe that much of the time she may have been unconscious, and certainly in excruciating pain.

[JetMaxx]

Hey streetsoldier....thanks for the update. I'd seen where the family visits were brief, so that told me she was still very weak. Jessica has a long recovery ahead of her....months of rehab. She'll probably have to learn to walk again

I've now recieved over 30 emails from folks that have seen my website (I emailed the link and a letter in tribute to Jessica's hometown newspaper-the Hur Herald on Friday evening); and everyone that knows Jessica or her parents tell me the same thing: what a wonderful family they are....and what a polite, kind and wonderful young woman Jessica is....a compassionate sweetheart that always thinks of others before herself

Perry