Baltimore priest recalls ministry to Jessica Lynch

Published: 2003-12-04

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- When U.S. Army Pvt. Jessica Lynch arrived at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany following her dramatic rescue as a prisoner of war in Iraq, Father Thomas Gills was the military chaplain on duty. It fell to the former pastor of St. Charles Borromeo in Pikesville to offer spiritual support to a young woman who had endured nine days of captivity. Lynch had been taken prisoner after her unit was ambushed when it made a wrong turn near An Nasiriyah. She suffered numerous broken bones and other injuries and, though she has no memory of it, she later learned that she was raped during her ordeal. Looking back on that cold and windy morning last April, Father Gills told The Catholic Review, Baltimore archdiocesan newspaper, that he feels blessed to have had the opportunity to minister to a 19-year-old soldier who showed great courage. "We prayed together and during the prayer she actually smiled brightly when she realized she was safe and that God had delivered her from the hands of those who mistreated her," said Father Gills, a major in the U.S. Air Force who is now stationed at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah.

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