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Family: Rescued POW in good spirits

Jessica Lynch's father, Greg Lynch Sr., and her mother, Deadra, and brother Greg Jr. at a news conference in Germany
Jessica Lynch's father, Greg Lynch Sr., and her mother, Deadra, and brother Greg Jr. at a news conference in Germany

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The family of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch is visiting the rescued prisoner of war at a U.S. military hospital in Germany. (April 8)
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LANDSTUHL, Germany (CNN) -- Jessica Lynch's family members said Tuesday the soldier who survived an ordeal in Iraq as a prisoner of war is looking good -- much better than they expected.

"Her spirits were real high," said Jessica's dad, Greg Lynch Sr., standing in front of a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, where the U.S. Army soldier is recovering from two broken legs, a broken arm and a fractured back.

Last week, a U.S. Special Operations team pulled off a dramatic rescue of Lynch, 19, from a Nasiriya hospital after she was captured by Iraqi soldiers.

The family was "really glad to see her condition," the father said, because "[we were] figuring it was a lot worse."

The Lynch family arrived Sunday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Family members said they will have plenty of time to discuss her ordeal in the months ahead.

"Right now, we're not really mentioning anything," said Lynch's brother, Greg Jr. "It's just a process, you know. Whenever she's ready to mention anything like that -- that will be the time."

Lynch is unaware the state of West Virginia has a scholarship for her when she gets out of the hospital and decides the time is right to fulfill a lifelong wish of becoming a teacher, according to the family.

Her high school principal has said she'll have a job waiting for her when she graduates.

She also doesn't know that she has received a great deal of media attention since her April 1 rescue, her family said.

"Right now, we're just trying to bring her in slowly," said Greg Jr. "She doesn't realize how big this has become.

"We're kind of slowly bringing her up where she needs to be. We just don't want to bring her up too fast."

There's no word yet on when Lynch will be able to go home to West Virginia. She has a lot of healing to do -- emotionally as much as physically.

Lynch and seven other members of the 507th Maintenance Company, along with several other soldiers, were listed as missing after Iraqi forces ambushed their convoy March 23 near Nasiriya.

The team that rescued Lynch recovered bodies of seven other soldiers who were part of her unit.

The team also recovered the body of another U.S. solider from a different unit, an Army statement said. He died in the ambush, too.

The identity of another body recovered has not yet been released, the Pentagon said.

Among the dead was the first woman soldier killed in the war, Lynch's roommate, Pfc. Lori Piestewa, 22.

"She is aware of the fate of the other members of the 507th and the POWs," her brother said. "She's real concerned for them, but she's not in the state where she really wants to talk about that."


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