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Tuesday, March 25, 2003

By April Vitello, Associated Press Writer

A West Virginia woman who joined the Army because there were few jobs in her hometown is among a dozen soldiers reported missing after a supply convoy was ambushed in southern Iraq, her father said yesterday.

	Jessica Lynch, 19, of Palestine, W.Va., is one of several soldiers reported missing after a supply convoy was ambushed yesterday in southern Iraq, her father says. Lynch worked as a supply clerk with the Army's 507th Maintenance Company. (Lynch family photos via AP)

Pfc. Jessica Lynch, 19, of Palestine, worked as a supply clerk with the Army's 507th Maintenance Co., her father, Greg Lynch, said yesterday. Palestine is located about 100 miles southwest of Pittsburgh.

"The only thing they can tell us is she's missing," Lynch said.

Lynch said an Army official accompanied by the West Virginia State Police notified him late last night.

Some members of the 507th were shown on Iraqi television as prisoners being questioned Sunday, but Jessica Lynch was not one of those pictured.

"We saw it on TV and kind of suspected," Lynch said. "I just want them to bring her back safely. Her and all the rest of the kids."

Lorene Cumbridge, a 62-year-old cousin who lives near the Lynches, said Jessica -- known to family and friends as Jesse -- grew up playing at her home.

"She's just a West Virginia country girl. Warm-hearted. Outgoing," Cumbridge said. "I really thought growing up she would become an elementary school teacher. But for West Virginia children in some of the more rural areas, the military is the one good chance of getting an education and making something of themselves."

Jean Offutt, a spokeswoman for Fort Bliss in Texas, where the 507th Maintenance Co. is based, said 10 or more of the soldiers who went missing Sunday were with the company, which deployed last month with the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. It is not considered a combat unit, officials said.

Lynch said neighbors and friends had been dropping by and calling since his wife, Deidre, and Jessica's 17-year-old sister, Brandi Renee, first learned the news.

"Everyone has been real supportive," he said.

Yesterday a yellow ribbon was tied to a tree near the family's mailbox and two others were attached to posts on the front porch. Two American flags flew from a second-floor porch.

Palestine, located about 70 miles north of Charleston, is a farming community in sparsely populated Wirt County, which had a 15 percent unemployment rate in January -- one of the state's highest.

The lack of opportunity and the military service of her older brother, Gregory Lynch Jr., led Jessica into the Army, her father said. She signed up through the Army's delayed-entry program before graduating from Wirt County High School in Elizabeth.

"The Army offered a good deal," he said.

Gregory Lynch Jr. is stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and was on his way home, the father said. "They are real close," he said.

Lynch called his daughter a jokester and a magnet for children. He now fears, he said, that she may never get the chance to have any of her own.

"She really loved small kids," he said. "That's what makes it so bad."

Wirt County Principal Ken Heiney said Jessica Lynch was active at the small school of about 325 students, where she played basketball and softball.

Heiney was meeting with teachers after school today to plan a special event for her, including distributing yellow ribbons to students and teachers.

Cumbridge said she would like for the world to know her cousin.

"We have so many Jesses over there right now," she said. "You turn on the TV and it just breaks your heart. There are a lot of families in West Virginia that have a Jesse, too, and they're going to be feeling for the Lynch family."

Associated Press writer Allison Barker contributed to this report.