Iraq war veteran Jessica Lynch turns 24 today!

She made headlines this week by testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, at a hearing investigating the false reports surrounding her capture in Iraq in March 2003 and Pat Tillman's death in Afghanistan, in April 2003.




In her testimony last Tuesday (which you can see here,) Jessica Lynch expressed her dismay that a fabricated story about her was publicized, when the real heroics of her comrades in the Army's 507th Maintenance Co. were overlooked.

In honor of her birthday I'd like share things you may not know about the brave women of the 507th and their families.

Jessica Lynch is a new mother! Her daughter Dakota Ann was born this past January.

She's a sophomore at West Virginia University.

She signed a $1M book deal for her biography, I Am A Soldier Too: The Jessica Lynch Story by Rick Bragg.

Jessica frequently speaks of her fallen best friend, Lori Ann Piestewa, of Arizona. They were roomates. Spc. Lori Ann Piewesta was a member of the Hopi Tribe and became the first Native American servicewoman to fall in combat in US History. She was the first woman to die in combat in the Iraq war. An Arizona mountain called Squaw Peak was renamed Piestewa Peak in her honor.

Lori and Jessica promised each other to look after their families if one of them fell. Jessica has kept her word, approaching the television show Extreme Home Makeover to give Lori's parents, who were raising their grandchildren, a home, and to give their community a museum and a memorial to honor Native American veterans. Jessica set up a college fund for Lori's son and daughter; leftover funds will be converted to a scholarship for another woman veteran of American Indian descent.

The Hopi people have made Jessica Lynch a member of their tribe.

Shoshana Johnson of Texas is third-generation Army. Her grandfather fought in World War II and her father fought in Korea.

Shoshana was captured in the same March 2003 ambush that injured Jessica Lynch, becoming our first woman prisoner of war.

She was shot in both legs. In her 22 days of captivity she was treated for her injuries, undergoing three surgeries. She was in constant fear for her life.

"More than once, a doctor said that they wanted to take good care of me to show that the Iraqi people had humanity," Shoshana told KFOX News in 2003. "I appreciate the care that I was given. But I also know that there was a reason behind it." When the Marines came to her rescue, she recalls that "at first they didn't realize I was an American." It didn't take long to clear up the confusion, and Shoshana was reunited with her family in April 2003 and given a hero'swelcome.

Speculation as to why Shoshana Johnson's story didn't get the same kind of air time that Jessica Lynch's did ranges from racial bias to quashing dissent (her family has been firmly opposed to the Iraq war.) Sparking further controversy is the apparent fact that Ms. Johnson's injuries qualified her to receive a significantly smaller disability pension than Lynch -- one-third the amount.

Shoshana Johnson tours the country on speakingengagements and has signed a deal with Dafina Books to publish a memoir, due for release in May 2007: One Wrong Turn, The Story Of Shoshana Johnson, The First American Woman Of Color To Be Taken Prisoner Of War.