On March 23, 2003, U.S. Army Pvt. First Class Jessica Lynch’s 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed, and she was taken captive by Iraqi soldiers.
The unit supply specialist from West Virginia was 19 years old, and had been deployed for four days. She was injured in the ambush, and then had bones and her back broken by her captors. She woke up in an Iraqi civilian hospital, the only survivor of her immediate vehicle, one of seven soldiers taken captive overall in the ambush.
“When I woke up, I had no idea where I was, or what had happened to my unit,” she said.
Lynch told her story Monday as the featured speaker at Aurora’s Veterans Day celebration, an event that included a parade, a presentation of awards of meritorious service to Aurora veterans and more.
Eventually, in April 2003, she was rescued – the first successful rescue of an American prisoner since World War II.
People listened intently as she told of lying in the hospital bed and hearing “a ruckus” outside of tanks and RVs rolling in, and hearing the first English language words she had heard in a while outside saying, “Where’s Private Lynch?”
“They came in and said, ‘We’re Americans and we’ve come to take you home,’” Lynch said. “I replied, yes, I’m an American, too.”
Lynch has been featured on numerous television shows, in magazines and newspapers and has attended Veterans Day celebrations across the country.
“She could have gone anywhere today,” said Clayton Muhammad, Aurora’s chief communications officer and a senior advisor to the mayor. “But she chose to come here.”
After a number of operations and treatments, Lynch now sees herself as an example, not only to those in the military, but to those experiencing troubles of all kinds in everyday life.
“No matter what you are going through, keep a positive attitude,” she said. “Just continue to never give up, continue to make it out of whatever you are going through.”
It was a message many of the veterans attending the ceremony on Downer Place in downtown Aurora, next to the GAR Memorial Hall, already knew.
They came from many different backgrounds, different experiences in different branches of the military. But they all had one thing in common – they came to honor their fellow veterans, and remember those who did not make it home.
“It’s about recognizing the service and sacrifice of all veterans,” said Muhammad in describing what Veterans Day is about. “The freedoms we enjoy today have been hard won by their sacrifices.”
Originally Armistice Day to celebrate the end of World War I, President Dwight Eisenhower declared it Veterans Day for all veterans of all American wars in 1954 – some 70 years ago.
Today, it honors what veterans have done, something that “can’t be said just in words,” said Mayor Richard Irvin, himself an Army veteran of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.
“Your dedication to our country has made us stronger,” he said. “This is a city where vets not only are honored, but cared for, and supported.”
Irvin honored four veterans who have come back to Aurora and started businesses. Nov. 11 through 15 is Veterans Small Business Week across the country, and Irvin read a proclamation for small businesses started by veterans in Aurora.
Honors went to Fatima Kahiga, owner of Pure Skin Solutions in downtown, a Navy veteran; Craig Melby, a Marine veteran who with his brother founded Viking Brothers, Inc., a construction trucking firm; Robert Velasquez, a Marine veteran, founder of Semper Fi Land Services, a landscaping firm; and Mike Saltijeral, owner of Industrial Fence, Inc., Perimeter Security Solutions and Charlie’s Silver Spoon, a homemade ice cream store downtown in the historic Aurora Silverplate Building he renovated.
But there were plenty of honors to go around for all veterans Monday.
“It’s up to us to ensure every veteran that his or her service to this country is respected,” said Mike Eckburg, commander of Roosevelt-Aurora American Legion Post 84 in Aurora. “We will never forget you.”
slord@tribpub.com
