American Indian group awards medal to Lynch

PHOENIX (AP) — An American Indian veterans group awarded a "warrior's medal of valor" Wednesday to former POW Jessica Lynch in a ceremony on the mountain named after her best friend and fallen comrade, Army Spc. Lori Piestewa.

The ceremony on Piestewa Peak marked the two-year anniversary of the ambush on a convoy in Iraq in which Piestewa was killed, and Lynch was taken prisoner.

Piestewa, a Hopi, is believed to be the first American Indian woman killed while fighting for the U.S. military.

"She was a very strong-minded woman," said Lynch, the former Army supply clerk from West Virginia who is still recovering from injuries suffered in the ambush. "Her strength rubbed off on me."