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Jessica Lynch set to appear at local Memorial Day service
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Published: February 16, 2009
Brooksville - BROOKSVILLE Famed prisoner of war Pfc. Jessica Lynch is scheduled to appear at the Brookridge subdivision's Memorial Day service.
Lynch was a 19-year-old supply clerk with the U.S. Army's 507th Maintenance Company when her group was ambushed by Iraqi forces March 23, 2003. Eleven other soldiers were killed in the attack, but Lynch was captured and became a prisoner of war.
Her rescue April 1, 2003, was the first successful rescue of an American POW since World War II and the first ever of a woman, according to jessica-lynch.com.
Here in Brooksville, Jack Waldron was fascinated by her story. As a retired Air Force sergeant, Waldron said his military background helped him relate to her predicament.
It also conjured up stories Waldron's father told about his experiences at a German prisoner of war camp.
So when Waldron was chosen this year to chair Brookridge's Memorial Day service, he had no trouble selecting a keynote speaker.
An online search put him in touch with Lynch's parents, who passed him onto Lynch's publisher. Then he started swapping e-mails with Lynch and before long she had committed to the engagement.
"It was my good fortune to have her say 'yes,'" Waldron said in an interview Monday.
His own personal interest aside, Waldron believes this will be a treat for the mostly senior Brookridge residents. They're the "remember back when" crowd who are either veterans or knew veterans of World War II, said Waldron.
Brookridge's service is being held on the "traditional" Memorial Day of May 30. Congress changed the observance of Memorial Day to the last Monday of May in 1968 to create a more convenient three-day weekend.
While both Veteran's Day and Memorial Day are a tribute to armed services, Waldron believes that Memorial Day has more of a focus on the missing and killed in action. That's part of his reasoning behind inviting Lynch.
Veteran's Day emphasizes all veterans, such as Waldron.
"We made it home in one piece," he said.
Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com
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