The family of Pte Jessica Lynch was celebrating her rescue by special operations forces yesterday. The successful operation also sparked rejoicing in her home town of Palestine, West Virginia.
News of Pte Lynch's release brought great joy to her family. Having initially suspected an April Fool's joke, her father, Mr Greg Lynch said: "We're just real proud they risked their lives to go in and save our daughter."
The soldier's mother, Mrs Deadra Lynch said, "I'm so excited. I'm speechless. Prayer, I knew, couldn't go wrong."
"The relief ... it came up from the bottom of my legs," said her brother, Gregory. He said he felt "overwhelming gratitude" for her rescuers.
"You would not believe the joys, cries, bawling, hugging, screaming, carrying on," Pam Nicolais, Jessica's cousin, said after news emerged of her release. "They said it was going to be the biggest party this road had ever seen," another cousin, Sherri McFee, said. "Everybody was really worried ... but we all remained hopeful and knew she would be home."
Speaking to Channel 4 News, Ken Heiney, of Palestine's Wirt High School, said: "There's been a lot of celebrating going on in the community." Mr Heiney believed the soldier, whom he described as a "pleasant, very outgoing young lady", would recover well from her ordeal.
President George Bush welcomed the rescue.White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer said: "The president is indeed full of joy for Jessica Lynch and her family. He's full of pride for the armed forces that carried out this daring rescue operation."
"He is also mindful of the fact that there are others who are unaccounted for or missing in action or are POWs and, of course, those who have lost their lives, and the president is focused on all of this," he told reporters.
The wounded soldier was expected to be flown to a US military hospital in Germany late last night, a US spokesman said.
The spokesman for Ramstein air base in south-west Germany said she was to be taken for treatment to the nearby US military hospital at Landstuhl. It is the army's biggest military hospital outside the US and the main treatment centre for soldiers wounded in the Gulf region.
Meanwhile, the US Navy said two pilots had been rescued, both in good condition, after their F-14 Tomcat crashed in southern Iraq. It was on a combat mission, but the crash was not thought to be due to hostile fire.- (AP, AFP)