Iraq War veteran Jessica Lynch will honor Piestewa at Games

Jessica Lynch, a former U.S. Army soldier who was wounded, captured and rescued in the Iraq War, will be in Scottsdale on Friday to honor Lori Piestewa, Lynch’s best friend and the first Native American woman to be killed in combat.

Lynch will be the honorary chairwoman at the 2018 Fiesta Bowl Lori Piestewa National Native American Games.

Opening ceremonies will begin at noon Friday at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort, 7200 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale.

The Piestwa Games, which run Friday through Sunday, are expected to attract more than 3,000 athletes representing more than 50 tribes from North America.

Athletes will compete in basketball, volleyball, youth baseball, softball, cross country, and track and field.

Piestewa, a Hopi from Tuba City, was a member of the U.S. Army’s 507th Maintenance Company. She was traveling in a convoy through the desert when her company, which included Lynch, was ambushed March 23, 2003, in Nasiriyah, Iraq.

A rocket-propelled grenade hit Piestewa’s Humvee. The explosion killed three soldiers and left Piestewa, Lynch and two other soldiers injured.

The soldiers were taken as prisoners of war. Piestewa later died from her injuries in a civilian hospital in Nasiriyah.

“Lori was my best friend, and I am proud to see that her legacy lives on through the Piestewa Games,” Lynch, who was awarded a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Prisoner of War Medal by the U.S. Armed Services, said in a statement announcing her involvement at the Games.

“What a fitting tribute to a hero whose purpose in life was to bring people together,” she said.

Alongside Lynch, Native American basketball star Jude Schimmel, an Umatilla tribe member, will speak and meet attendees at the opening ceremonies.

The Arizona Sports and Entertainment Commission manages the Games.