Many things will draw us to hear public speakers. It might be their elite level of training and experience, the abbreviated degrees and titles after their names or perhaps their impressive contributions and levels of success – all legitimate reasons.
When Jessica Lynch was invited to speak at the Women’s Leadership Summit, hosted in March by the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, she didn’t have the typical business credentials for a Chamber-organized event. She has awards, to be sure – a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, to name a couple – and as a teacher and motivational speaker, her contributions and successes are many, just not the easily measurable kind. Nevertheless, she brought something priceless to the event. She had a heck of a story to share and a heartfelt message to go with it – a message that landed.
“You could hear a pin drop while she was talking,” said Kaylin Jorge, chief communications, development and policy officer for the West Virginia Chamber. “Everyone was so tuned in.”
Lynch’s story is now 22 years old. It’s been over two decades since she became a household name as a prisoner of war in Iraq. While a Private First Class serving with the U.S. Army’s 507th Maintenance Company as a supply clerk, her convoy was ambushed in March 2003. She was seriously injured in a resulting vehicle accident, then captured by enemy soldiers and taken to an Iraqi hospital, where she was rescued by American special forces about a week later.
Lynch underwent multiple surgeries and spent months recovering in military hospitals, first in Germany, then at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., before coming home to Wirt County, West Virginia, to find thousands of West Virginians and other patriots – as well as media from all over the country – there to welcome her return.
“The community of people that came from all over West Virginia, that did not surprise me. We are a pretty patriotic state,” she said. “Seeing all the American flags and even the yellow ribbons hanging from the trees, I don’t know that I was shocked or surprised by that. It was more of, ‘Oh my goodness. Look how many media are out there, all waiting to see me.’”
She would spend the next two decades continuing to recover from her injuries, raising a daughter of her own, earning an undergraduate degree in teaching and a master’s in communications and doing a lot of public speaking, sharing her hard-earned lessons about strength – and how it presents itself when you need it the most. She also works for the West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance as coordinator of the Women Veterans Program.
“I’m just staying busy, which I absolutely love to do,” she said. “I have my elementary education degree, I work for the West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance, I’m a motivational speaker – so I am always on the road, speaking and traveling. It’s something I find enjoyment in. I think as long as you have a positive attitude and enjoy what you’re doing, then it’s not so much hard work, and you can have a little fun.”
As fulfilling as it’s been, it wasn’t exactly how she intended her life to go. Lynch joined the military in 2001, before 9/11, mostly to earn tuition for a college degree.
“I had no plans of going into the military at all,” she explained. “It was not even a decision until the summer of 2001 when I graduated high school. That summer was when my brother and I decided we were going to go into the military.”
Then 9/11 happened. And in the months that followed, the United States deployed thousands of soldiers for the War on Terror.
“I was dead set that I was going to become a kindergarten teacher,” Lynch recalled. “I wanted to go into elementary education. I am thankful that I was able to go back after all those years and continue that dream.”
She didn’t expect to face combat when she enlisted. Even after the war started, her role as a supply clerk didn’t seem likely to place her in danger.
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.
All these years later, she said she can still remember some things very clearly – and others, not so much.
“I think your body has a way of kind of blocking out some of the traumatic events that occur,” she said.
But she remembers enough to know that she’s a survivor. And she believes everyone has that instinct – you just have to tap into it.
“I think when you are faced with any kind of situation that you don’t know that you can overcome, your body is like, ‘Oh, no. Let’s not give up.’ It’s amazing. So, keep fighting,” Lynch said. “My main message would be about perseverance. It goes back to that positive attitude because that’s one of the things that I have kept over the past 22 years. No matter what you are going through, you can overcome it as long as you stay positive. Have a mindset that you want to overcome those struggles or obstacles, whatever it is that’s holding you back.”
It was Lynch’s first time speaking at the Women’s Leadership Summit.
“I appreciated hearing her entire story, everything that she went through and how she came out on the other side,” said Kathy Thomas, vice president and CFO for the Chamber. “She talked about her injuries and how she still goes to physical therapy today. She’s still healing from that, 22 years later, but she’s going out and trying to help other people by talking about it. I think that’s huge.”
Lynch said one of the greatest things about being at the Women’s Leadership Summit was looking out at the audience of women, including some teens.
“I wanted to make sure that the younger ladies that were sitting there knew they were going to face tough times,” she said. “That’s just the reality of life, and you cannot give up. Keep going. Keep fighting for whatever your goal is. Keep that positive attitude, and hold your head high. When you are faced with something that you don’t know you can handle, remember that we are so much stronger than what we give ourselves credit for.”
Jorge was impressed by Lynch’s composure.
“Jessica went through the unimaginable and showed resilience, and everything she does now is with grace and with poise,” Jorge said. “It’s a testament to the fact that no matter what happens to you, you can get through it. If Jessica can get through that, we can get through the things that we’re facing in our lives.”
Lynch said she’s honored to have had the opportunity to share that message with so many people, not only in her home state, but also as she travels and represents West Virginia to people all over the country.
“I’m honored to be from West Virginia, where we take our veterans so seriously,” she said. “We stand for the national anthem; we put our hand over our heart; we remove our hats. Hopefully, that’s not just a West Virginia thing, but we take pride in our veterans. You walk into any elementary school, especially during Veterans Day programs, and you will see exactly what I mean. I am very thankful that I was born and raised here.”
Jean Hardiman is a freelance writer living in Huntington, West Virginia.