TUBA CITY, Ariz. April 5 —
A photo shows Pfcs. Lori Piestewa and Jessica Lynch the day
before they were deployed: roommates, good friends, smiling in their
Army fatigues.
For more than a week, Piestewa's family on the Navajo Reservation
and Lynch's family in West Virginia were joined in waiting for word
of their fate in Iraq.
On Saturday, as Lynch's parents left their home to fly to Germany
for a reunion with their rescued daughter, Piestewa's mourned the
death of the first American servicewoman killed in the war.
Both women were members of the Army's 507th Maintenance Company,
based at Fort Bliss in Texas. Their unit was attacked March 23 when
it made a wrong turn near Nasiriyah.
After an agonizing wait, the Lynch family received their miracle
Tuesday: U.S. commandos rescued Lynch, wounded but alive, from a
hospital.
They unearthed eight bodies as well. Friday night, Piestewa's
family learned that she was among them.
Piestewa (pronounced pee-ESS-tuh-wah) was a member of the Hopi
Tribe, whose reservation is near the Navajo Reservation community of
Tuba City. She was a 23-year-old single mother raising a 4-year-old
boy and a 3-year-old girl.
"Our family is proud of her. She is our hero," her brother
Wayland said Saturday in a prepared statement to reporters. "We are
going to hold that in our hearts. She will not be forgotten. It
gives us comfort to know that she is at peace right now."
Behind him, family members and friends gathered on the porch of
Piestewa's parents' trailer. Cars stopped briefly in front of the
home as neighbors got out and handed flowers to the family.
A low chain-link fence in front of the home was adorned with
yellow ribbons, a red, white and blue heart and a sign with a
picture of Piestewa, the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade
Center towers.
The Lynch family got word of the deaths just before boarding a
plane in Charleston, W.Va., on their way to Germany. The family
broke off a news conference after being told that seven members of
their daughter's unit were among the eight bodies retrieved during
the raid.
"I wasn't aware of this ... Our hearts are really saddened for
her other troop members and the other families," Lynch's father,
Gregory Lynch Sr., said before choking up.
Piestewa and Lynch were good friends and roommates, said Myra
Draper, a friend of the Piestewa family. She recognized Lynch in
television broadcasts because she had seen family photos of the two
women together.
Wayland Piestewa said no other relatives wished to speak with
reporters. However, a woman who declined to give her name gave The
Associated Press the picture of Lynch and Lori Piestewa together,
saying it was taken the day before they headed overseas.
"Our prayers are with the Lynch family in West Virginia," said
Wayne Taylor Jr., chairman of the Hopi Tribe. "We thank God that she
survived her ordeal. Her bravery speaks volumes of her character and
we wish her a continued speedy recovery."
Piestewa was one of the very few American Indian women in the
armed forces. Hopi officials said that 56 Hopis are serving in the
U.S. military, 48 of them in Iraq.
This town of 8,200 and members of the Hopi and Navajo tribes
rallied around Piestewa's family, hanging yellow balloons and
uplifting messages outside their trailer.
On Saturday, just inside the entrance to the Bashas' Supermarket,
residents crowded to view a large photo of Piestewa in uniform and
sign green poster boards with messages to the family.
"She was so full of spirit. There was never a time I saw her
upset or mad," Gloria Bigman said.
"It's hard to understand; one lived, one didn't," said the Rev.
Hal Corbett, pastor at Tuba City Assembly of God.
photo credit
and caption:
Pfcs. Lori Piestewa, right, and
Jessica Lynch pose at Fort Bliss, Texas the day before their
deployment to the Middle East in Feb. 2003. The Army notified
the Piestewa family in Tuba City, Ariz., Friday, April 4,
2003, that they had recovered Lori's remains after rescuing
Jessica, who was in Piestewa's company in Iraq. (AP
Photo/courtesy Piestewa
family)
|
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
redistributed. |