Lynch Ponders Survival, Celebrity
Associated Press
April 1, 2004,
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Fame has come at a price for former POW Jessica Lynch. Since the supply clerk's wounding and rescue made her the Iraq war's most famous soldier a year ago, well-wishers have been drawn to her at every public appearance, whether at the diner near her home or at the Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills.
"I'm just a country girl. It's something I'm not used to, and I probably never will be," the 20-year-old Lynch told The Associated Press. "I do want my life back to normal, because it's hard - it's so hard. But at the same time I'm like - wow, I get to go to New York, I get to go to Hollywood. I get to hang out with people like Britney and Leonardo."
With help from publicists, the young woman who joined the Army to see the world and receive an education has made a handful of appearances since last year's book tour for Rick Bragg's biography, "I Am A Soldier, Too."
Lynch, still a few weeks shy of legal drinking age, won an award from Glamour magazine (where she met Britney Spears); rode in the Gator Bowl parade; starred at Gov. Bob Wise's State of the State speech; attended parties after the Golden Globes (where she met Leonardo DiCaprio); and took a three-day jaunt to the Bahamas after christening a cruise ship.
She tries to oblige every photo and autograph request, most of which come from young girls. But she has turned down scores of other requests, including offers to speak at schools across the country.
"I feel bad, but I can't do them all," Lynch said.
As she grapples with fame, she also struggles with questions both personal (When should I go to college? When should I get married?) and philosophical (Why did I survive when others didn't?).
"I mean, obviously, there has to be a reason," she said. "I don't know what it is yet. So I have to explore all these things to figure it out."
This month, Lynch will do the first of four events for Get Motivated, a national business seminar company that hires speakers such as former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev.
Her message will be "if I can do it, you can," Lynch said. "I was put in one of the worst situations there is out there. So if you're having problems with your boyfriend or whatever, you can get through it."
Lynch's whirlwind started March 23, 2003, when her 507th Maintenance Company got lost in the southern Iraqi desert and was ambushed in Nasiriyah.
With her vehicle stalled and her rifle jammed, Pfc. Lynch hopped into a Humvee driven by her best friend, Pfc. Lori Piestewa. The vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashed. The 11 American soldiers who died in the ambush included Piestewa and three others in the Humvee: 1st Sgt. Robert Dowdy, Sgt. George Buggs and Spc. Edward Anguiano.
Lynch suffered two spinal fractures, nerve damage and a shattered right arm, right foot and left leg. According to medical records cited in her biography, she was also sodomized, apparently during a three-hour gap that she cannot recall.
Her videotaped rescue by special forces from a Nasiriyah hospital on April 1 branded Lynch a hero at a time the U.S. war effort seemed bogged down.
It also stirred complaints of U.S. government media manipulation. Early reports - never stemming from Lynch or her family and later disproved - had the flyweight, blonde, former Wirt County Miss Congeniality suffering knife and bullet wounds while fighting off attackers until running out of ammunition.
Lynch agreed to the AP interview on condition that she not be asked about her Iraq ordeal. She repeated her charge that she felt "kind of used" by officials who spread false stories about her. But she declined to discuss the politics of the Iraq war.
Still hobbled and using a cane, Lynch spends several hours a day in rehabilitation therapy. Nerve damage has left her unable to feel her left foot, though doctors hope she will regain its full use. The Army awarded her a medical retirement and an 80 percent disability pension.
"They say a millimeter a day the nerves grow" from where her back was damaged, she said. "They're giving me another year. After that, it might not be looking so good. But there's still hope."
One of the reasons for her survival, as she sees it, has been to allow her to tell her story to the families of the four soldiers who died next to her.
She created a foundation with proceeds from her $1 million book deal. The Jessica Lynch Foundation's goal is to educate children of veterans.
Last month Lynch postponed her June wedding to Sgt. Ruben Contreras, whom she began dating two years ago when they were stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas. She would not discuss details but said they plan to wed next year.
Eventually, Lynch said, she will go to college to work toward her goal of teaching kindergarten. Her face lights up whenever she discusses the job, or children.
Lynch is uncertain whether her wounds will prevent her from starting her own family.
"I do have a lot of problems with everything inside, so I don't know if that'll affect it or not. I hope not, because I'd love to have children," she said. With a shy smile, she added, "Love it."
