Rescued POW recovers in Germany

Rescued POW Jessica Lynch’s family today described her as cheerful, strong-willed and thinking about home while recovering at a military hospital in Germany from wounds suffered in Iraq.

Her father Gregory said the family was happy to discover that her condition was not as bad as they had feared.

“It really felt good once we’d seen her and seen the spirits she’s been in,” he said at Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre. “We knew she was going to be all right.”

Jessica, a 19-year-old US army supply clerk from West Virginia, was captured on March 23 after her convoy was ambushed in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.

She was rescued from a hospital in the city by US commandos and airlifted to Germany.

Jessica is aware that members of her unit were killed, the family said.