It has been 23 years since U.S. Army Private First Class Jessica Lynch's life changed forever.
Lynch was a 19-year-old private from West Virginia when she deployed to Iraq. Three days into her deployment, an Iraqi RPG hit her armored vehicle during a long convoy.
"I was just a private from West Virginia, a 19-year-old that was among, you know, 200,000," Lynch said.
The blast knocked Lynch unconscious.
"Lori lost control of the vehicle. We ended up slamming into the back of a disabled 18-wheeler, the trailer," Lynch said.
Lynch was the sole survivor in her vehicle.
"My back was broken at the 4th and 5th lumbar. We are suspecting that was caused from the RPG hitting us," Lynch said.
Iraqis dragged her into one of Saddam Hussein's palaces, breaking her left upper arm. They also broke her left femur and beat her with a metal pipe, breaking her left shin.
"And then my right foot was completely crushed," Lynch said.
Captors then took her to a hospital in Nasaria, where the beatings stopped. When she finally woke up, she thought she was paralyzed. She was not fed for nine days.
"I was extremely scared, especially during that moment when I opened my eyes," Lynch said.
"Nothing compares to that real-life experience of being a POW," Lynch said.
Cut off from her unit, Lynch had no idea what would happen. She remained as positive as she could until captors took her to the operating room to amputate her leg.
"So at that point was probably the moment that I ... probably lost hope, all hope," Lynch said.
"But I cried and I begged and pleaded with them to just please stop, and for whatever reason, they stopped what they were doing and transferred me back upstairs," Lynch said.
Unbeknownst to Lynch, Navy SEALs, Army Delta Force, and Air Force Para-rescue specialists were on their way to rescue her. On the night of April 1, 2003, she heard helicopters, tanks, and bombs going off in the distance.
"So it actually did not hit me until... the moment that they were coming in for me," Lynch said. "I did not know until literally the moment that they, the guys, were standing next to my bed."
"And he said, We're Americans and we're here to take you home," Lynch continued. "And I just remember looking up at him and saying, yeah, I'm an American soldier too," Lynch said.
Rescuers carried her out of her room, down the stairs, and to an evacuation helicopter waiting outside.
"Then it finally hit me that once I was in that helicopter, that I was gonna be OK," Lynch said.
Following her rescue, initial stories claimed Lynch fought her captors like a female Rambo. Lynch spent years refuting those stories, even testifying before Congress that they simply were not true. To this day, she remains confused about how those stories started.
Lynch received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. She now spends her time substitute teaching and speaking across the country to various groups about the importance of not giving up.
Last Friday night, Lynch served as the keynote speaker at the "Honoring Utah Women Veterans" event in the Capitol rotunda. She delivered the same message she tells herself every day.
"You can't give up, no matter what you are going through, no matter what you are faced with. You've got to keep going," Lynch said.
"You're not going to be a complainer, you're not going to complain. Not one bit, not one ounce are you going to do this to yourself. Don't beat yourself up. You've already been there. Now it's time to thrive, strive, and continue on," Lynch said.
