'USA Weekend' Visits Jessica Lynch Country

By: Seth Porges "There's no better place to appreciate American holiday celebrations and community traditions than Wirt County, W.Va., cradle for the now-famous 20-year-old Lynch," Dennis McCafferty writes in his upcoming Dec. 5 -7 USA Weekend cover story.

The Lynch, of course, must be Jessica, or as the magazine puts it, "the Iraq war's most famous ex-POW."

The cover features a colorful autumnal scene of a house on a lake near Lynch's home, with the cover line: "Jessica Lynch Country -- A holiday visit."

USA Weekend manages to tap into the heartbeat of Americana in the epic piece about the pressing issues that a small-town endures on a daily basis. It even includes a recipe for the Lynch Family 7-Layer Salad, provided by grandmother Wyonema Lynch.

"No celebration is complete without great food, and Wirt County is no exception," McCafferty writes. "Lynch's homecoming meal was fried chicken. For this winter holiday, Jessica Lynch and her family plan to go to her grandmother's house on Christmas Eve, open their presents that night, and enjoy a feast of baked ham thickly basted with brown sugar and pineapple, homemade potato salad with celery and onions, and Kool-Aid." Clearly the author got closer to the scene than Jayson Blair ever did.

Lynch was the subject of a media circus when she was rescued as a tortured prisoner in Iraq in a dramatic, heart-pumping mission that was later shown to have been over-hyped. She has since expressed her disdain at being turned into what she views as a pawn for public relations purposes.

McCafferty makes no mention of the controversy that surrounded the story of Lynch's rescue, but he does extensively discuss Wirt County residents' favorite holiday dishes. These include "butterscotch pie, pineapple pie, coconut almond Bundt cake and the area favorite, banana split cake." At Andra Dobyns' house, "the deer roast is marinated overnight in Jack Daniels', garlic and maple syrup."

But for all of the locals, "and all of us," the story concludes, "it's a comfort to know Jessica Lynch will take her customary seat and pass the plates."