Jessica Lynch Tells Her True Story To Congress
April 25, 2007, 7:56am
In November 2003, former Army Pvt. Jessica Lynch, a petite blonde from rural Wirt County, W.Va., who had been at war in Iraq a few months earlier, told the world the story of her battlefield encounter, capture and eventual rescue in the book “I Am A Soldier, Too.” Today, she told that story on Capitol Hill.
Lynch, who gave birth to a daughter in January, was among the witnesses at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on false stories spread by the military during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Family members of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, an NFL player who joined the military after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, also testified.
Lynch professed her support for U.S. troops and called people like her brother, Greg, who is still in the military, her heroes. She also said that now is “not the time for finger-pointing” about the war. But she chastised Army officials who hyped the myth about her as “the little girl ‘Rambo’ from the hills who went down fighting” and said she still does not understand why they did it.
“I had the good fortune and opportunity to come home and tell the truth,” Lynch said. “Many soldiers like Pat Tillman did not have that opportunity. The truth of war is not always easy. The truth is always more heroic than the hype.”
The Gavel, a blog produced by the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has more videos of witnesses and lawmakers here, here, here and here.
(Full disclosure: Jessica’s story touched me personally in a way that few have during my jaded years as a journalist. We were from the same state, and I remembered playing basketball against the Wirt County Tigers when I was in high school.
Ed Toman, one of my best friends from high school, also happened to be the Wirt County school superintendent when Jessica was captured and had been the principal when she was in school. Ed lived not from from the Lynches and knew the family well. I called him after the news of her capture and stayed in contact in the months afterward.
I was so moved by Jessica’s story that I kept a scrapbook of news clippings. I considered her a hero whether she was in the military sense or not. I still do.
Days before Jessica’s book was published, Ed contacted Jessica’s family at my request. She was a celebrity by then and I’m sure the last thing she wanted was to be annoyed by an untrustworthy journalist, but she graciously agreed to let me personally deliver the scrapbook as my gift to her. She even consented to pictures with my wife, our daughter (our son was too shy) and me. I am ever grateful for that simple gesture of kindness to a complete stranger.)
Categories: Military, Producer's Picks, Iraq, Oversight
Subscribe to RSS