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The family of rescued POW Jessica Lynch said Tuesday her strong will helped her survive captivity, but that they weren't going to press for details of her ordeal until she's ready.

Still stunned by their daughter's capture by Iraqi forces and dramatic rescue nine days later, Pfc. Lynch's parents described their relief at finally laying eyes on Jessica in her hospital bed in southwestern Germany.

"We said, 'Hi, Baby, how are you doing?' and she said, 'Fine,'" Gregory Lynch Sr. told reporters at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, where Jessica has been treated since last Friday.

"It really felt good," he said. "Once we saw her and saw the spirit she was in, we knew then that she was going to be all right."

"She's really cheerful," her mother Deadra added. "So it's better than we expected."

Lynch is making a steady recovery from her wounds including a serious back injury, multiple fractures and a head laceration and could be home by the end of the week, hospital officials said.

The 19-year-old supply clerk from Palestine, W.Va., was captured March 23 after her 507th Maintenance Company convoy was ambushed in the southern city of Nasiriyah. She was rescued April 1 from an Iraqi hospital by U.S. commandos and airlifted to Germany.

Her family has said they weren't surprised by reports that she resisted Iraqi forces and attributed her survival to her character.

"She's very strong, strong in the head. She's very determined and has a set way of life," her brother Gregory Lynch Jr., also an Army private first class, said.

While Lynch concentrates on getting back on her feet, details of the ambush, which left at least eight members of her unit dead, and her time in Iraqi captivity appear to remain locked inside.

Her family said Jessica had said little about her ordeal, and they weren't going to push.

"She is aware of the fate of the other members of the 507th, the POWs," her brother said. "She's real concerned for them but she's not in a state where she really wants to talk about that."

With much still ahead, her parents, 18-year-old sister Brandi, 21-year-old brother Gregory and a cousin, Dan Little, seemed solemn and composed during a 15-minute press conference.

They each wore a yellow ribbon to remember soldiers killed and missing in the war.

"We're going to let Jessie have her feelings. When she's ready to tell us something she will," her father Gregory said.

Lynch's silence so far is not unusual for returning POWs, said Landstuhl spokeswoman Marie Shaw, citing many Vietnam veterans who did not speak of their experiences for years.

"Some people talk immediately, some people don't talk. We just don't know what Jessica has been through. We just don't know what she remembers," Shaw said.

Lynch has spent time with a psychologist and been debriefed by the military, part of the repatriation team to help POWs transition back to normal life.

If details of her capture and captivity have come out in those sessions, some of it may be considered classified or even material to the POWs still missing.

During the three days since her family arrived, hospital officials said the main focus has been on their visits, which have been kept private. The rest of the time a friend from her unit has been staying with her.

Lynch also has started physical and occupational therapy, following several surgeries for her back and to stabilize fractures, two of which may have been caused by gunshot wounds.

Her progress has been measured in small steps toward normality. On Monday she at her first real meal: turkey, gravy, french fries and carrots, as she had requested.

And she sat in a chair for four hours Monday and again Tuesday. She says she's ready to go home.

"That's the only thing she's been asking for," her brother said.

Isolated in intensive care, the first returning POW from the Iraq war is still unaware of the impact of her story on the public back home, according to her family. She hasn't watched television or read any news reports of the war. And she's still not aware of offers for scholarships to help her fulfill her wish of becoming a teacher.

Hospital officials say well-wishers have sent e-mails, cards and flowers. A German woman drove two hours from Frankfurt to bring her a jewelry box.

But as long as Lynch remains in intensive care she's only been allowed a few stuffed animals, including a white teddy bear with a red-white-and-blue ribbon brought by her parents.

"She doesn't really think that she's a hero," her brother said. "But she's a hero as well."

photo credit and caption:

The family of rescued POW Pfc. Jessica Lynch, from left, mother Deadra Dawn Lynch, left, brother Gregory Oren Lynch, Jr. , center, and father Gregory Oren Lynch, share a smile as they adress the media at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, southwestern Germany, on Tuesday, April 8, 2003 after visiting Jessica. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle)

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