The Mountain State Apple Harvest Festival is honored to have as its 2025 Grand Marshal, Jessica Dawn Lynch, Retired Private First Class (PFC) and former Prisoner of War (POW). Lynch is a survivor of a 2003 Iraq convoy ambush, and was later rescued and awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

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Meet Jessica!

The public will have several opportunities to meet our Grand Marshal at events

throughout the festival. She will be at The Royal Gala, The Pomona Ladies Brunch, The Coronation, the Grand Ball, the Grand Feature Parade, the Rodeo, and she will be speaking on Sunday morning at 10am at the Berkeley County Youth Fairgrounds. All veterans are welcome to attend free!

 

Her appearance at the 2025 MSAHF is sponsored by Valor Reserve! 

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A native West Virginian, Jessica’s dream was to go to college and become a teacher. However, after graduating high school in May of 2001, an Army recruiter stopped by their home and soon Jessica and her older brother, Greg found themselves joining the U.S. Army.

 

On September 19, 2001, Lynch entered basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina and later completed Advanced Individual Training for her Military Occupational Specialty as a unit supply specialist (MOS 92Y) in the Quartermaster Corps. She then was stationed at Fort Bliss,Texas where she met Lori Piestewa, who became one of Jessica’s best friends and roommate (AKA Battle Buddy). 

 

In February 2003, Jessica’s unit was deployed to Kuwait with standby orders for Iraq. On the morning of March 23, 2003, the 507th Maintenance Company she was part of had mistakenly veered off Highway 8 and then turned toward the city into enemy-held territory. The US vehicles ran into an ambush, drawing enemy fire from every direction. Eleven American soldiers were killed and Jessica, along with five others, were taken prisoner. A few soldiers managed to escape the ambush and form a secure perimeter around their wounded. Jessica was held in captivity until she was rescued on April 1, 2003 for a total of nine days and the other five members of her unit were held captive for twenty-one days. While in captivity in the Nasiriyah Hospital, Piestewa died from her injuries. She was only 23 years old. Jessica was seriously injured. She suffered a broken back, right arm, right foot, left femur, left tibia, a laceration to her head, and several cracked ribs.

   

On April 1, 2003, U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion 4th Marines, 2nd Battalion 8th Marines and 2nd Battalion 1st Marines, as well as members from the Navy SEALs under the command of the U.S. Army, staged a diversionary attack, besieging nearby Iraqi irregulars to draw them away from Saddam Hospital in Nasiriyah. Meanwhile, an element from the Joint Special Operations Task Force 121 composed of U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets), Air Force Pararescuemen (PJs), Army Rangers, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) and Delta Force launched a nighttime raid on the hospital, and successfully retrieved Jessica and the bodies of eleven other American soldiers.

 

After her rescue, Jessica was transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, in Germany, where she would start the physical healing process. On the flight to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, the military medics kept her sedated and hydrated. Her family flew to Germany to be reunited with her. Jessica underwent back surgery to correct a vertebra that was putting pressure on her spinal cord. She continued to undergo several more surgeries to stabilize her fractures.

 

Jessica went on to complete her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and her Master’s degree in Communication Studies through WVU. Today while she still requires physical therapy for those injuries, she continues to persevere and speak to audiences young and old about her experience as a Prisoner of War (POW). She continues to deliver speeches to business corporations, veteran organizations, universities, colleges, schools, and youth groups. In 2014 Jessica made her acting debut as specialist Summer L. Gabriel in the 2014 film Virtuous by JC Films. Her role was loosely based on her own experiences during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. She also had roles in other movies and one music video.

 

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author Rick Bragg lends his remarkable narrative skills to the story of the most famous POW this country has known. In I Am a Soldier, Too, Bragg lets Jessica Lynch tell the story of her capture in the Iraq War in her own words, reflecting how a humble rural upbringing leads to a stint in the military, one of the most exciting job options for a young person in Palestine, West Virginia.