As Rescuers Stormed Iraqi Hospital, a Frightened Lynch at First Hid in Bed

Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch was so frightened during the early stages of her dramatic rescue Tuesday that she had pulled a bedsheet over her head as U.S. forces stormed up the stairs toward her hospital room in Nasiriyah, according to details of the operation released Saturday by the U.S. Central Command.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart said that Lynch only began to understand what was happening when a commando called out:

“Jessica Lynch, we’re the United States soldiers, and we’re here to protect you and take you home.”

Renuart said the commando then took off his helmet and walked closer to Lynch. The 19-year-old supply clerk looked up at him and said, “I’m an American soldier too.”

Renuart said Lynch had leg, arm and head injuries and seemed to be in “a fair amount of pain” when she was rescued by the team, which included Army Rangers and aviators, Marines, Navy SEALs, Air Force pilots and combat controllers.

A physician who had accompanied the rescuers quickly evaluated her condition, then stabilized her for evacuation.

“As she was prepared for movement and secured to the stretcher, the team members carried her down the stairwell out to the front door to the waiting helicopter,” Renuart said. “While the helicopter transported her to a nearby aircraft ... Jessica held up her hand and grabbed the Ranger doctor’s hand, held on to it for the entire time and said, ‘Please don’t let anybody leave me.’ ”

Lynch is now receiving medical care at a U.S. military hospital in Germany. Her parents and two siblings left their West Virginia home Saturday to reunite with Lynch in Germany.

In the briefing, Renuart said Special Forces learned about an injured U.S. soldier being held at Saddam Hospital from local contacts. After entering the hospital, he said, the rescuers persuaded a local physician to lead them to Lynch. The same doctor later directed them to a burial site. Not having any shovels, Renuart said, the Americans dug up the grave with their hands.

They discovered the remains of nine soldiers, including seven members of the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company who were either killed immediately or fatally wounded in the same ambush that hit Lynch last month near Nasiriyah.

*

Times wire services contributed to this report.