Whenever I hear the name Jessica Lynch, the song "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban starts playing in my head. It was the song played in all those promos for the 2003 NBC television movie "Saving Jessica Lynch." Yes, there was a TV movie.
Back in 2003, the then 19-year-old Lynch became an instant celebrity when U.S. special forces rescued her after she spent nine days as a prisoner-of-war in Iraq at the war's start. Lynch herself has said that government and media stories that painted her as a "female Rambo" simply weren't true.
As the war in Iraq draws to a close this month, the Associated Press wanted to know - whatever happened to one of its most memorable figures?
Even though she still has difficulty walking from the injuries she suffered in the war, Lynch hasn't let that hold her back. She tells the AP:
"It's tough to walk, but I look at it as, `At least I'm walking.' At least I have my legs. They may not work. I have no feeling in the left one. But it's attached, at least. ... At least I'm alive."
This week, Lynch will graduate from West Virginia University at Parkersburg with an education degree. She's been working as a student teacher at the elementary school she attended as a youngster. She gives three to five lectures a month to children and veterans groups. And she hopes to earn a master's degree some day.
Lynch's family life is stable. She lives with her longtime boyfriend and their 5-year-old daughter Dakota.
Lynch sat down with West Virginia Public Broadcasting a few years back to talk about how her experiences during the Iraq War affected the rest of her young life. Take a look:
