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 Jessica
Lynch, the injured Army private whose ordeal
in Iraq was hyped into a story of
U.S. heroism under fire, returned home on Tuesday to the embrace
of loved-ones and cheers from flag-waving well-wishers.
"I had no idea so many people knew I was missing," the
20-year-old supply clerk said a brief prepared statement that represented
her first public remarks since she was captured by Iraqi forces
on March 23 near the city of Nassiriya and rescued by U.S. commandos
on April 1.
Sitting in a wheelchair before a large American flag, dressed in
an Army beret and uniform, Lynch
expressed sorrow over the deaths of 11 comrades including another
female soldier, PFC Lori Ann Piestewa of Tuba City, Arizona, all
killed when their unit fell into an ambush.
Lynch, who has been awarded the Bronze
Star, the Purple Heart and
the Prisoner of War medals, arrived
in this Appalachian community aboard an Army Blackhawk helicopter
with her family. She later rode a red Mustang convertible
on a five-mile trek to her home while
hundreds waved flags, donned yellow ribbons and held up posters
of the young soldier.
West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise called it "a homecoming for the
world." Edith Kidd, a well-wisher from Buffalo, West Virginia,
agreed: "People from all over the country and all over the
world are here. It's the second Fourth of July."
Lynch was in a 507th Maintenance Company
convoy when her unit was ambushed. A 90-minute firefight
ensued.
But she became a national hero after media reports quoted unnamed
U.S. officials as saying she fought fiercely before being captured.
In the end, Army investigators concluded that Lynch was injured
when her Humvee crashed into another vehicle in the convoy after
being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
The U.S. military also released video taken during what was portrayed
as a daring rescue by special forces who raided the Iraqi hospital
where she was treated. Iraqi doctors said later the U.S. operation
had been over-dramatized.
Lynch has been quoted as saying she can remember nothing of the
ambush or the rescue, and her remarks on Tuesday shed
no new light on the episode.
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