Sawyer to Interview Former POW

ByABC News
September 15, 2003, 10:27 AM

Sept. 15 -- Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch will talk about her ordeal in Iraq for the first time on network TV with ABCNEWS' Diane Sawyer.

The special edition of Primetime is set to air in November.

Sawyer will sit down with Lynch, 20, and her family on the eve of the publication of Lynch's book, I am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story, written by Rick Bragg and published by Alfred A. Knopf.

"From the moment her unit took a fateful turn and was ambushed in the city of Nasiriyah on March 23, through her capture and rescue, to her recovery from grievous wounds, Lynch's ordeal became a central story of the war," said Diane Sawyer, co-anchor of Primetime.

"Jessica's story a source of both pride and controversy remains one of the great untold chapters of the War in Iraq. Like most Americans, I look forward to hearing Jessica Lynch's account of her life leading up to her enlistment in the Army, the extraordinary and harrowing events that transpired in Iraq and what the future holds for this young woman."

A 15-page Army report on the ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company in Iraq says fatigue, bad communications and other difficulties arising in "the fog of war" all factored into the incident that killed 11 and injured several others, including Lynch.

Lynch was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army on August 27.