TracGunny
01-01-04, 12:57 PM
Last modified Thu., January 01, 2004 - 12:23 AM
Originally created Thursday, January 1, 2004
Ex-POW Lynch a surprise for fans
Former soldier made famous by her capture, rescue in Iraq is a special guest of event.
By CYNTHIA L. GARZA
The Times-Union
Many parade-watchers were momentarily silenced and left pensive when a yellow sports car carrying former soldier Jessica Lynch -- dressed in a West Virginia University jersey and visor -- zipped by them during Wednesday's Winn-Dixie Hometown Gator Bowl Parade.
Paul Nocida and Dabney Phillips, both West Virginia University alumni, conferred after the car had already passed them.
"That's really weird," said a perplexed Nocida, who was not expecting to see Lynch. "I saw special guest [on the car] and then I saw who it was."
Then he said, "Whoa, that's so cool."
That's the way it was for most people who were not expecting to the 20-year-old soldier from Palestine, W. Va., made famous after she was rescued by U.S. forces on April 1 from an Iraqi hospital.
Parade officials kept mum on whether or not Lynch would actually be in the parade until the last moment. Her publicist, Steve Goodwin, said only that Lynch was here to support the Gator Bowl.
Lynch was a discreet part of the 3 p.m. parade that looped around downtown Jacksonville in about an hour-and-a-half. The pomp was a prelude for the University of Maryland and West Virginia University football game. Those teams will face-off in the 59th annual Toyota Gator Bowl at 12:30 p.m. today in Alltel Stadium.
Football fans filled the Jacksonville Landing and downtown streets to watch the parade lined with everything from horse drawn carriages to fast cars and patriotic floats to six giant, helium-filled balloons.
And then there were the marching bands who came from all across the country, including Illinois and Pennsylvania.
Minerva Bryant, 52, said she her favorite part of the parade was watching the bands march by. She said she was surprised the distances some had traveled to be here in Jacksonville. A steady cadence could be heard throughout the streets as high school bands, and the two college bands, kept the crowds thumping.
When the car carrying Lynch passed by, Bryant thought for a second, pointed and leaned over immediately to her three grandchildren sitting by the curb to explain to them who it was that had just passed them by.
The boys didn't remember who she was, but her granddaughter did. She said she would have to pull out her Time magazine at home to show them the story of Lynch.
Jon McBride, former astronaut and retired Navy captain was the parade's grand marshal. McBride, whose hometown is Beckley, W. Va., graduated from West Virginia University in 1964.
McBride said Jacksonville was a great city, and that he "spent a lot of time here when I was in the Navy." He said it's also special to him since one of his sons lives here.
McBride was the pilot of the first crew of seven launched in the space shuttle Challenger in 1984. He was scheduled to fly again in March of 1986, but the flight was deferred because of the Challenger accident in January of that year. McBride, who retired from NASA and the Navy in 1989, is now president and CEO of the Flying Eagle Corp. in Lewisburg, W. Va.
cynthia.garza@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4380
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/010104/met_14435347.shtml
Originally created Thursday, January 1, 2004
Ex-POW Lynch a surprise for fans
Former soldier made famous by her capture, rescue in Iraq is a special guest of event.
By CYNTHIA L. GARZA
The Times-Union
Many parade-watchers were momentarily silenced and left pensive when a yellow sports car carrying former soldier Jessica Lynch -- dressed in a West Virginia University jersey and visor -- zipped by them during Wednesday's Winn-Dixie Hometown Gator Bowl Parade.
Paul Nocida and Dabney Phillips, both West Virginia University alumni, conferred after the car had already passed them.
"That's really weird," said a perplexed Nocida, who was not expecting to see Lynch. "I saw special guest [on the car] and then I saw who it was."
Then he said, "Whoa, that's so cool."
That's the way it was for most people who were not expecting to the 20-year-old soldier from Palestine, W. Va., made famous after she was rescued by U.S. forces on April 1 from an Iraqi hospital.
Parade officials kept mum on whether or not Lynch would actually be in the parade until the last moment. Her publicist, Steve Goodwin, said only that Lynch was here to support the Gator Bowl.
Lynch was a discreet part of the 3 p.m. parade that looped around downtown Jacksonville in about an hour-and-a-half. The pomp was a prelude for the University of Maryland and West Virginia University football game. Those teams will face-off in the 59th annual Toyota Gator Bowl at 12:30 p.m. today in Alltel Stadium.
Football fans filled the Jacksonville Landing and downtown streets to watch the parade lined with everything from horse drawn carriages to fast cars and patriotic floats to six giant, helium-filled balloons.
And then there were the marching bands who came from all across the country, including Illinois and Pennsylvania.
Minerva Bryant, 52, said she her favorite part of the parade was watching the bands march by. She said she was surprised the distances some had traveled to be here in Jacksonville. A steady cadence could be heard throughout the streets as high school bands, and the two college bands, kept the crowds thumping.
When the car carrying Lynch passed by, Bryant thought for a second, pointed and leaned over immediately to her three grandchildren sitting by the curb to explain to them who it was that had just passed them by.
The boys didn't remember who she was, but her granddaughter did. She said she would have to pull out her Time magazine at home to show them the story of Lynch.
Jon McBride, former astronaut and retired Navy captain was the parade's grand marshal. McBride, whose hometown is Beckley, W. Va., graduated from West Virginia University in 1964.
McBride said Jacksonville was a great city, and that he "spent a lot of time here when I was in the Navy." He said it's also special to him since one of his sons lives here.
McBride was the pilot of the first crew of seven launched in the space shuttle Challenger in 1984. He was scheduled to fly again in March of 1986, but the flight was deferred because of the Challenger accident in January of that year. McBride, who retired from NASA and the Navy in 1989, is now president and CEO of the Flying Eagle Corp. in Lewisburg, W. Va.
cynthia.garza@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4380
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/010104/met_14435347.shtml