LYNCH COMING HOME NEXT TUESDAY - Wirt County Will Welcome Her

(07/15/2003)
POW Jessica Lynch is returning to Wirt County next Tuesday.

She be released from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and should arrive in Wirt County by mid-afternoon, family spokesman Randy Coleman said.

Greg and Deadra Lynch will accompany her on a military helicopter from Washington to Wirt County.

Lynch is expected to make a brief press statement in Elizabeth, then travel by military motorcade to her home at Palestine.

It is possible she will travel in an open vehicle to greet her friends and neighbors.

The spokesperson said "She's quite excited about going home. She wants to get home and they (her doctors) believe she is ready for rehabilitation outside their facility."

She will continue to undergo rehabilitation at her home in Palestine, Coleman said. Lynch can walk with the aid of a walker but still has trouble standing.

Volunteers have worked since April remodeling the family home in Palestine.

Coleman said security will be provided for Lynch around the clock indefinitely.

After she was captured, Lynch was taken to a hospital in Nasiriyah where she was rescued by special forces on April 1.