Jessica Lynch

Lynch, then a supply clerk with the 507th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss, Texas, was wounded and captured by Iraqi forces.

She was initially listed as missing in action.

Eleven other soldiers in the company were killed in the ambush.

Five other soldiers were captured and subsequently rescued 21 days later.

Lynch's best friend, Lori Piestewa, received a serious head wound and died in an Iraqi civilian hospital.

A video of some of the American prisoners of war, including Piestewa, was later shown around the world on Al Jazeera television.

Later, footage was discovered of both Lynch and Piestewa at an Iraqi hospital before the latter died.

After some time in the custody of the Iraqi army regiment that had captured her, Lynch was taken to a hospital in Nasiriyah.

Iraqi hospital staff, including doctors Harith Al-Houssona and Anmar Uday, said they shielded Lynch from Iraqi military and government agents who were using the hospital as a base of military operations.

US forces were tipped off as to Lynch's whereabouts by an Iraqi, who told them she had been tortured and injured but was still alive.

The Iraqi was described as a 32-year-old lawyer, initially described only as "Mohammed" and later identified as Mohammed Odeh al Rehaief.

In light of Mohammed's role in Lynch's rescue, he and his family were granted refugee status by the United States.

Initial reports indicated that al Rehaief's wife was a nurse by the name of Iman in the hospital where Lynch was being held captive, and that while visiting his wife at the hospital, al Rehaief noticed that security was heightened and inquired as to why.

However, hospital personnel later confirmed only part of al Rehaief's story, indicating that while al Rehaief had indeed visited the hospital, his wife was not a nurse there, nor was there any nurse by the name of Iman working there.

While visiting the hospital from which Lynch was eventually extracted, al Rehaief also claimed that he had observed an Iraqi colonel slapping Lynch.

"My heart stopped", said al Rehaief, "I knew then I must help her be saved. I decided I must go to tell the Americans."

Al Rehaief's story has been disputed by doctors working at the hospital, who say that Lynch was shielded and protected from Iraqi military personnel by hospital staff and was treated well throughout her stay at the hospital.

Jessica Dawn Lynch (born April 26, 1983) is an American teacher, actress, and former United States Army soldier who served in the 2003 invasion of Iraq as a private first class.

Lynch was born on April 26, 1983 in Palestine, West Virginia, the second child and first daughter to Deidre Lynch and Gregory Lynch, Sr. Her family could not afford to send her to college; her older brother had to drop out for financial reasons as well.

Searching for a way to pay for the children's educations, the Lynch family met with an army recruiter in the summer of 2000 when Lynch was seventeen and still attending high school.

"He did not lie to the kids," her mother said, "he said there was always the possibility of war in the future."

"But at that time it was before September 11, and there was no terrorism," Lynch recalls, "so we were like, 'that would never happen to me.'" On September 19, 2001, Lynch entered basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

She later completed Advanced Individual Training for her Military Occupational Specialty as a unit supply specialist (MOS 92Y) in the Quartermaster Corps at Fort Lee, Virginia.

On March 23, 2003, she was serving as a unit supply specialist with the 507th Maintenance Company when her convoy was ambushed by Iraqi troops during the Battle of Nasiriyah; Lynch was seriously injured during the offensive and captured by Iraqi soldiers shortly afterwards.

Her subsequent recovery by U.S. special operations forces on April 1, 2003, received considerable media coverage as it was the first successful rescue of an American prisoner of war since World War II and the first ever of a woman.

Initial official reports on Lynch's capture and rescue in Iraq were incorrect.

Her role was loosely based on her own experiences during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

On March 23, 2003, a convoy of the United States Army's 507th Maintenance Company and the 3rd Combat Support Battalion elements, led by a Humvee driven by Lori Piestewa, made a wrong turn and were ambushed near Nasiriyah, a major crossing point over the Euphrates northwest of Basra.

The convoy was supposed to detour around the town but instead turned directly into it, eventually running into an ambush.

The ambush was unlikely to have been set up in advance, because the Iraqis did not know which course the convoy would take.

Although some vehicles had GPS receivers, military GPS systems, unlike civilian equivalents, provide only grid references and not turn-by-turn navigation.

Maps of the area lack the detail required to properly navigate through tight city streets.

Apparently, the convoy took more than one wrong turn.

The convoy came under attack by enemy fire.

The Humvee in which Lynch was riding was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer.

Lynch was severely injured.

On April 24, 2007, she testified in front of United States Congress that she had never fired her weapon (her M16 rifle reportedly having jammed), and that she had been knocked unconscious when her vehicle crashed during the ambush.

Lynch has been outspoken in her criticism of the original stories that were reported regarding her combat experience.

When asked about her heroine status, she stated: "That wasn't me. I'm not about to take credit for something I didn't do... I'm just a survivor."

In 2014, Lynch made her acting debut as specialist Summer L. Gabriel in the 2014 film Virtuous.